The Prototype
by DelVarO
Summary: When kitsune escapes from the institute where she was experimented on for longer then a decade, she finds outside something else, other then freedom. Chapter 16 is up! Dont forget to review! FINISHED!
1. Escaping the cage

**A/N: Hey there. Just finished watching the anime again and decided i should give a try and write something. This is the result. I havent spent much time writing this, not longer then 3 hours, or maybe even less! I sure hope it turned out fine**. **Leave a review and tell me what you thought. Have fun readin this.  
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**Oh, yeah, I do not own Elfen Lied, though if i did we would've had season 4 out by now... The only thing that i DO own here are the characters made by me. **

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Another guard dropped down, in two pieces, like an opening door, sliced in half as she literally ran through him, not taking notice of the warm blood that splattered on her body. He was one of the last lines of defense they had set up in order to stop her. Right now, there was only a single guard left standing.

He looked at her with horror in his eyes. She had just slaughtered his entire squad, the people who he worked with, and the people who became his friends the day they started working here.

No, he won't cower before her; he would stop her and avenge their death. At least she stopped running. She was now walking, slowly walking towards him; her face is unseen behind that metal helmet that she wore, which only made him scared even more. He swallowed the dryness of his throat and tightened his grip on his MP5.

He screamed and pulled the trigger, holding it, not letting it go. The bullets seemed to hit an invisible wall, the projectiles simply falling down or ricocheting to other directions. He heard the click that sentenced him to death. He still held the trigger, he stopped screaming though.

The young woman stopped right before him. She just looked at him; he lost all track of time staring into those thin slits, seeing nothing but blackness and nothing more.

He felt something grab him by the throat, holding him firmly. He tried to struggle, get himself free of the vise grip. He could swear he heard a sigh coming from the girl right before his feet lost the ground.

He was launched upward in an amazing speed, his head cracking open against the ceiling, sending a rain-like stream of blood dripping from above.

She allowed the dead body to drop limply to the bloody ground. '_Foolish humans, never learn a thing._' She though. She showed him mercy, gave him a quick death.

She gave a look behind her. The other Diclonius wasn't there. 'Did she die? Where is she?' The thoughts crossed her mind. The second Diclonius somehow managed to escape her cell and she also released her. Whether it was to use her as a distraction while she escaped or actual care, she couldn't know. She decided not to give it a second though. Maybe she was already outside… or maybe she died. It didn't matter; everything was better then staying here.

She walked back to one of the dead bodies, who looked like someone who was high ranked and her luck shone to her once again. A key card was in one of his pockets. The card silently floated into her hand and she was back on her way to freedom.

She reached one of the doors and she saw that the card would be useless after all. At least a dozen humans, looking like people who were just working there, were crowded around the exit door, with a pair of guard hurrying them outside. She ran towards the door, getting closer as the second flew by. One of the guards noticed her and took out his handgun but before he could even aim, his head suddenly gone, blood splattering on everyone around him. The other people screamed in terror, not even noticing the completely naked and blood soaked girl running towards the door just a few steps behind them. The second guard met a similar fate, not even managing to draw his weapon.

When the workers did notice her they tried to run away but found some unseen force pushing them, lifting them of the ground. Her 4 vectors just pushed them out of the way. They probably didn't know what was going on, let alone know what she is… but if anyone would try to do something, she won't hold herself back.

One such unlucky person stood up and ran toward a pistol one of the guards dropped.

"Stupid…" She whispered to herself.

When the young man sent his hand to pick up the weapon, he suddenly found that his hands were no longer attached to his arms. He screamed in agony, blood pouring from his hands almost in rivers.

"Shut up!" She said to him and sent one of her vectors to silence him. The vector decapitated his head and silence ensued, only the whimpers of some of the women who watched the gruesome act.

She hated the screams. They always haunted her. Screams of agony, telling her how much pain she caused them…

'_But they deserved it! They brought it on themselves! They hate you, they want to kill you, and you ended up here only because of them! Kill the rest of them before they turn on you!!_' A small voice told her inside her head.

'_No, they wont, they fear me and they did nothing to me. Now, shut up!!!_' She screamed back at the voice. The voice always annoyed her. She knew that it wasn't her, or perhaps she just lost her mind after all this time… but in those years, this voice have been her only company.

The voice, gladly, went silent and she walked outside… outside. How these thoughts affect her! She wasn't outside for ages! She didn't know how long she has been in captivity, after a while, time loses any value in there…

She just stood there for a moment, ignoring the scared people who were frozen in place, not daring to try and run away. She stood there and felt.

She felt the chilly wind biting at her exposed flesh though she couldn't feel it on her face, since she had the helmet on. She felt such a refreshing wave of emotions. Freedom felt good.

She heard the shuffle of footsteps and whimpers of the people behind her finally decided to flee and she was reminded of the situation she was in.

She saw that she was on an island, surrounded by the sea. She spotted distant lights, some distance away from this island. This was her destination. She walked to the edge of the cliffs and looked down, seeing the waves break against ragged rocks and the cliff walls It wouldn't take them a long time to raise another force to retrieve her, or take her down. With one last hateful look at the facility and the still opened door behind her, she jumped into the water.

* * *

He walked down the beach, staring at the waves. He always loved watching the sea at the early morning. He felt a shiver cross his spine and he pulled his long coat around himself tighter. The winter just passed, but it was still a little cold.

He kept on walking, enjoying the cool wind and the sound of the waves. He walked for a few more minutes until he saw something that made him stop. He concentrated on that detail and he was suddenly shocked. There was someone in the water.

He ran to the edge of the water and was relieved that the figure was moving, but it had some desperation in its movements, but it was moving in a steady speed.

When the person finally got closer he could see him clearly, only it was a she. He noticed that his mouth was hanging and he quickly closed it. Other then a weird helmet which looked like it was made of some metal, she wore absolutely nothing. He was well mannered, he reminded himself as he tried not looking at her breasts. After all, he had a young wife waiting for him at home.

From her body, he could assume that she was in her late teen years, not older then 20, but he had to see her face to be sure. Hundreds of question assaulted his mind as he wandered why she was here, naked, and wore that odd helmet. He decided that he would ask her after she would get out of the water.

The cold wind reminded him that it was rather cold.

"She must be freezing…" he mumbled under his breath while he removed his brown coat. She was almost on the shore now and she stumbled towards the dry sand. He wasn't even sure if she had noticed him.

"Hey! Are you alright? Let me-" His words were cut out as he suddenly was silenced by something that grabbed him by the throat. He looked down and he saw nothing, but he sure felt it. He heard a loud 'snap' before everything turned black.

* * *

She was exhausted, even with her vectors she was tired from the long swim and she coughed some water that got into her lungs more importantly, she was freezing and the wind didn't help her at all. One of her vectors snapped the young man's neck while another one caught the coat he offered to her. As soon as he dropped face down into the cold water she started regretting that she killed him. There mustn't be any witnesses, her captives would surely chase her down, and she didn't want to leave them any clues if she could help it, but she already left one: a dead body.

But if she would've left him alive, he would've asked questions maybe even try to involve the police, and if he was asked, he would surely tell of the odd helmeted girl that he saw come out of sea. Either way, she had chosen to kill him, but why?

_'He would've betrayed you! If you allowed him to live he would've told the police, and then they would've captured you!_' The weak, yet powerful voice whispered inside her head.

A reasonable thinking, but she knew that she could've got rid of him without killing him…

She must stay hidden; the police was surely working for them.

She wrapped herself with the coat the man provided and for the first time noticed how much she had grown. When she was caught for the first time, she was very young, but now she noticed how tall she was when compared to the other people. She was much taller. She looked at the water, searching for her reflection. She wanted to see her face, the face she hasn't seen since the day she was captured. Questions bombarded her, how was she looking right now?

Without further regard to the dead body which was slowly drifting among the waves, she covered her head with the coat. The helmet would only arouse more suspicion and would be a massive landmark for her pursuers. She started walking toward the houses that lined the beginning of the city and the end of the beach. She had a name once, a long time ago but she forgot it by now. The scientists at the facility gave her a new name the day she was caught, Number 54, or how they later called her, Kitsune. She had an old name, but she was so used to being called by that one that it was almost physically stitched to her. It was her name now, for all she cared.

* * *

Only an hour or so passed since she exited the water and the body was found, but not by the people she expected to find it.

Sergeant O'Brian inspected the corpse that his men dragged to the shore from the water. It was a young man, in the middle of his twenties. His skin had a blue tone and his neck was hanging in a weird angle. One of the soldiers beside him crouched near the dead man and inspected the neck.

"Sir, the neck is broken as if something grabbed it and… snapped it like a twig. Grinded to pebbles." He said in a grim tone. O'Brian heard what she could do.

"It's her. Mobilize the other SAT teams. She is somewhere around here, she had no time to get far. She is around 18 years old, most chances that she still wears that helmet of hers." He told the man standing near him. "And… notify the local police but tell them not to engage the target. I don't want any civilian casualties." He added when the soldier took out his radio.

Andrew O'Brian released a heavy sigh and moved his hand through his short blond hair. After finishing serving for the US Army he and his teammates decided to stay in this occupation, only found a way to increase their paycheck. They were now freelancers, mercenaries, working for the highest bidder. Around a year ago they were hired by this institute. At first, he wondered why the hell a medical institute would need armed help but when he found more… he got more then he asked for. Now, he doubted the institute would let him and his boys leave peacefully, but as long as the paychecks kept coming, he won't ask anymore questions.

But now, when their first actually 'test' was about to begin, the question returned to his head. They only told him what she can do, nothing more.

"Remember; do NOT get into her 3.5 meters range. If you do, get out of it if you can." He told into his radio set, notifying everyone who listened.

"Mike, Jack and Derrick, you're coming with me." He told his team. They had better chances of staying alive if they were together. After over 10 years of working together, they operated on their 100%. Almost 2 years ago, the institute had lost much of its armed assistance; he didn't want to meet a similar fate. He looked up as he saw a pair of helicopters fly above him. It was time to work.

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Kitsune cursed under her breath as she scurried to cover. She ran into an alley and ducked behind a large trash can. The helicopter which was flying rather low passed by, luckily missing her, when she heard the sound grow weaker she decided to come out of cover.

They reacted surprisingly fast. She was hoping to reach a place she could hide in before they would be biting on her heels but now… it would be a little harder. At least she was dry…

She wrapped the coat tighter around her. As far as she remembered the outside world, it was not common to see a naked girl running along the street, with a metal helmet on her head. She considered removing it, but she had no time for it now… and it wasn't like it bothered her after all those years, it was like a second skin to her.

She came out of her cover and ran across the road to move through the alleys. She heard a deafening sound and looked to at the source. A car was speeding to her with no way to stop on time but before the car could hit her, the car stopped in its place as if collided with a wall and was thrown back, landing on its roof.

"Shit!" Kitusne whispered. She left them another way to track her. She continued to her way while the witnesses were trying to help the poor driver and pointing at her.

"Did you see that? What the hell??" she heard some of the cry out.

_'kill them! They will tell them where you went! Because of them they will capture you again and then you will be locked there for all eternity!'_ The voice screamed at her head.

'_SHUT UP!!!_' She screamed back and gladly, the voice heeded. She didn't have time to kill them, nor did she even want to do so.

She didn't mean to flip that car… she acted out of instinct. She reminded herself to watch out for such things in the future. Kitsune kept on running, not caring where to, just to get as far away as possible.

The alleys abruptly ended and she found herself in a park. Children who were playing there stopped everything they did and stared at her as she ran by. When she reached the far end she saw that her path was blocked by a wall, but it didn't stop her. Kitsune summoned her vectors and catapulted herself over the wall, leaving deep hand imprints on the ground that she left behind her.

Back to the cover of alleys, Kitsune ran on. After few more minutes the alleys ran out again and she was met with a choice. Either she would choose to follow the road, possibly making more eyewitnesses and be an easy target for the helicopter, or climb up a pair of stairs which led up. The answer was obvious to her. She climbed up, with the help of her vectors almost jumping them all in a single leap.

When she was up she was greeted by a small side street, with trees lined up on each of its sides.

At the end of it she spotted more alleys and decided to head there.

When she was halfway to the alleys she noticed that someone was running towards her. It was a young man, about her age if she wasn't mistaken, with black shoulder length hair. He wore a black leather jacket and a pair of jeans. He didn't look like a soldier and she paid no attention to him but when they were closer she noticed that he indeed was heading towards her, his gaze was aimed at her.

"Hey! _Stop_ for a second!" He cried to her, his voice broken by lack of air.

Questions bombarded her head. Who the hell was he and why was he calling to her? She decided to ignore this, despite her curiosity. She didn't have time for this. Kitsune sent on of her vectors towards him. She noted the surprised look on his face when he saw that she wasn't going to stop and how it switched into a pained expression when he was swept aside like he weighted lighter then the air. She didn't kill him; she just cleared her path though she did regret that she had to hurt him to achieve this. The guy crashed into a tree, sending splinters flying from the other side and crashed into a heap.

But a few steps later she felt a head shattering feeling course through the back her head and a ringing sound that followed. She stumbled forwards and lost her footing and crashed face first into the ground, her helmet sending a spark as it scraped against the ground.

Kitsune struggled to get up and she noticed a single, warm dent on the back of her helmet as her fingers brushed the back of her head to discover what happened. She got her answer a second later though.

"Stay on the ground and don't move!" She heard someone shout and when she looked back she saw a single soldier standing at least 10 meters behind her with his weapon aimed at her.

He fiddled with his other hand to get to the radio without letting his eyes go away from his target and when he succeeded he raised it to his mouth.

"Sir, I found her! Were on the -" He said into the device but his words were cut off when the radio was crushed into tiny pieces, along with his hand.

Kitsune was too fast for him to react. Her vectors threw her to her feet and pushed her forwards. She cleared the 10 meters in less then two seconds. While one vector crushed his hand along with his means of communication while her 3 other vectors ripped him apart, soaking her coat with large red stains.

She pushed the soldier away from herself. He landed, in 3 pieces, several meters from her, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

She sighed and turned around to flee from the scene when she was interrupted again, this time by a more familiar voice.

"There wasn't any reason for you to throw _me_ like that, and I'm expecting an apology..." The voice said, rather grimly.

She turned around and she saw the young man she knocked out only a moment ago. She noticed the hints of anger in his face and something else… sadness?

But the most curious thing was the large rock, about the size of her head, which was thrown at her by a single vector, which didn't belong to her. She heard a sigh coming from the young man before everything went black.  


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**Here we are! The end of the first chapter of my very first EL ff! If you have any questions, feel free to ask, though some of them might be answered in the next chapter without anyone of you even asking. Once again leave a review, tell me what you think. In order to improve my writing, and this fic, i should know if somethings wrong. I would do my best to update this fic very soon, though i think i failed the readers of my other fics on that part... if any of you read this, sorry, im probably working on them as you finish reading this! Anyway, i hope you had fun reading this, wait for the next chapter!!  
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	2. Sanctuary

**A/N: Hello again and happy new year! Year of the Tiger baby!!! Yeah! Anyway, back to business. It took me about a day to write this chapter, and i was under the effect of a quite large quantity of wine most of the time but hey, it turned out quite fine! Hopefully, this chapter will answer some of your unspoken questions and that you will like it. Anyway, chapter 2, here we go.  
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Her eyes slowly opened, revealing a blurred ceiling. Her head was throbbing in pain, as if she had another, painful, heart inside her head.

Kitsune waited for her vision to clear before looking around. She was in a rather small room, and one that she wasn't expecting to be in. The room had a single bookshelf, a table with some papers lying on it, a closet and other small things lying scattered across the room. The walls were decorated as well, with several posters and some pictures hanging from there. For normal people it looked like a normal room but for Kitsune, who lived in an empty cold cell for longer she could remember, this was plain weird. Most importantly, she felt soft materials beneath her and then she noticed that she was lying on a soft bed, covered by a warm blanket. She stopped looking around and released a sigh.

Only when she finished looking at the room she noticed a major change in her vision: she saw clearly, without something to obscure her vision. She also noticed that a heavy weight was lifted from her neck.

She gently lifted her hand to her face and moved a hand over it. She felt the fingers touch her face, and her skin feeling the touch of the fingers. She hadn't touched her skin in a long time; it was good to feel fresh air on her face after all this time. Her hand moved from her face to her hair, fingers moving through it, feeling it.

'_How do I even look now?'_ she asked herself. She practically grew up in the institute, where she had no time to think about such luxuries such as mirrors and how she looked like. But now, after all this time, she escaped…

Suddenly the last events before she passed out entered her head like a hammer.

'_Who the hell was that?'_ She thought to herself but got the answer quickly then she expected.

Someone coughed a weak cough that sounded a little forced, as if asking for attention.

Kitsune turned her head at the source, causing her to wince in pain because of sudden movement.

There on the window sat the boy from earlier, casually leaning against the rim, and smoking a cigarette. Kitsune's head quickly did the calculations: Boy, rock, her head. He wasn't even looking at her! Now that he was closer and she didn't have that helmet on her head she could give him a better look. Now, he wore a white tank-top and the jeans he wore last time she saw him, he had a black beanie hat on his head, with his black hair hanging down a little lower then his shoulders.

Anger started creeping into her; she started thinking on the ways she could avenge her poor, suffering head. He gave her a glance from the corner of his eye. She lashed a vector at his direction but the guy didn't even react. A single vector met hers halfway to its destination and held it in place. She raised herself on one of her elbows to look him squarely in the face and a wave of dizziness flushed over her.

"Good morning to you too..." He said with a frown. "I guess I should apologize for the rock. I might've thrown it a little too hard."

She was reminded of the throbbing pain in her head and sent a severe scowl at his direction. Then to her surprise, his vector released hers and returned to its owner. More questions popped into her head though one of them was more fitting for the situation.

'_If he wanted me dead, I'd be dead. Though he helped me… why?'_ she thought, deciding her course of action.

Slowly, she retracted her own vector and in response she got a grin from the young man.

"You started it by the way... I'm still waiting for an apology from you." He quietly said, causing the young woman to send him another scowl.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked him, ignoring what he said. "And what is this place?"

The young man frowned when he realized that he won't get an apology from the woman.

"You answer me first; this_ is_ my home and my bed that you were sleeping in." He said and turned his gaze back to the world outside of his window, inhaling another doze of smoke from the cigarette.

"You can call me number 54 or Kitsune." She answered, getting a little annoyed by this exchange of words. He returned his eyes to her and smiled.

"Great." He said and jumped down from the window, causing Kitsune to flinch in surprise at his sudden movement. "Wait here." He told her and exited the room from the door that was near the window.

She kept looking at the door after he left. She heard some commotion in there… it might take some time. She returned to her lying position and placed her head back on the soft and comfortable pillow. Thoughts and ideas crossed her mind one after another so fast that her head started hurting. _Who is he? How come he has vectors? Is he a Diclonius, like her? Yeah, he has vectors, that might explain it, but I never heard of any males in my race… _

She gave a glance at the open window and a small voice in her head urged her to jump out and escape but she silenced it. She was too curious to leave now; she wanted to know who he was and why he helped her. In the short time she lived among humans, before she was captured, she learned that nothing kind that they did for her came without a price. But he wasn't a human…

She raised herself to a sitting position and rubbed her eyes while releasing a yawn. It was the best sleep she had in years. When she sat the blanket fell from her chest to her knees and she noticed that she was not so naked anymore. She wore a simple while t-shirt and had a few bandages wrapped on her hands and legs. Other then that, she was still naked.

The door opened and the young man entered, carrying a plate with something on it with a chair hovering behind him, held by the shimmering air that was his vector. He placed the chair in front of her and the plate on the chair, revealing its contents. A dish full of noodles with vegetables and what else and a cup of what looked like tea. She suddenly realized that was very hungry and she quickly swallowed the drool before it could find a way out of her mouth.

"Sorry, I don't have a small table or anything so I guess that a chair would have to suffice. And I didn't have enough time to prepare a real meal so… if you would want to wait though I can prepare something better, if you want…" He said while scratching the back of his head.

"You have vectors… I think that you are aware of where I've been before I got here…" She silently stated and took the chopsticks. The host sat back onto his spot on the opened window.

She struggled for a few minutes with the sticks, not getting a hold on the food. The young man patiently watched but eventually laughed when he saw the look of concentration on her face. He left the room and a moment later he returned with a fork. She took it and finally managed to get some food inside her mouth. As she finally tasted it the first genuine smile in a long time formed on her face. This food was so much better then the one she ate at the institute!

Then, to the young man's surprise, she increased the speed she was eating at, almost not chewing before swallowing it.

"By the way… the name's Alex." The young man said when he finished laughing.

Kitsune stopped mowing down on the food and regarded the man sitting in front of her, his red eyes looking at hers. She gave him a smile of gratitude and returned her attention on the food.

When she finished eating and drank the tea she leaned against the wall behind her, rubbing her belly as she tried to make herself comfortable. When she felt comfortable with herself, she looked at Alex.

He was smoking again, looking at her from the corner of his eye. When he was sure that the girl finished eating he threw the remainder of the cigarette out of the window and turned himself to look into her face.

"I guess that you have question, obviously." He said with a smile. Kitsune looked at him and though, trying to choose which one to ask out of the hundreds that floated in her mind.

"Alright, who are you?" She asked. Alex thought of an answer for a moment.

"I'm me, I guess." He answered but then he noticed the unsatisfied expression on Kitsune's face. "Number 24, if that helps. I escaped the institute almost five years ago, I grew in there. Now I live here, anything else?"

"Are you a Dicloni? I don't see horns." She asked. To her, if he hasn't used his vectors in front of her, he would've been a normal human.

He raised his head and pulled of the hat he wore, revealing the rest of his dark hair. He removed a portion of his hair to reveal a small piece of bone-white.

"I lost them, and yes, it _did_ hurt like hell." He said with a painful expression on his face.

"You didn't answer the question." Kitsune asked with a frown.

"I… don't know." He answered in defeat after a minute of silence.

"Don't know? What do you mean by _that_?" Kitsune asked incredulously.

"It means that I don't know. I am something that the scientists back at the facility like to call a freak among freaks…" He paused, searching for the right words.

"I wasn't born like this… I had a twin sister. We both were born with horns. I don't know what happened to her afterwards but I ended up in the institute. Anyhow, the researchers noticed that I didn't develop any vectors, nothing at all. As far as it seemed I was just a child born with a skull mutation… looked like my human genes won the Diclonius ones." He said, not finished yet.

A lighter floated out of his pocket and ignited the cigarette he took out with his physical hand.

"Well, they wanted to know why. They started experimenting on me. I don't even know what they did to me. They said to me that they _tweaked _my pineal gland." He said in disgust. Kitsune silently listened, soaking in the information.

"Well," He continued. "I got the vectors they wanted me to have but… something didn't work exactly like they expected. I am what they called a failed project. They said to me that my brain can't quite handle them, that if I use them too much my brain will shut itself down or even more. Ill either enter a coma, or die." He said with a defeated tone, his gaze trailing out of the window. "Eventually, they just threw me back into my cold cell and did the usual experiments on me… but I escaped in the end."

Kitsune looked at him with horror. Not only he went through the horrible experiments she undergone, but his vectors, his only means of defense can kill him. Alex was visibly angry, his left hand clutching the rim of the window.

"I have more then just my pair of vectors though." He said while flashing a wicked smile. "I never reached my limit but I have what they called a 'safe zone', which is a pair of vectors. As long as I use only a pair, ill be fine. Or at least that's what they told me. So far I'm fine." He finished, the last traces of anger leaving him. Kitsune thought about what he said to her.

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked him. He told her valuable information and she was a complete stranger.

"Because I know I can trust you." He said. "It's not like you're going to run back to the facility and tell them everything you heard about me." He added when he saw her surprised and doubtful expression.

"Good point. Why did you help me? And what's the catch?" She asked, a faint trace of a smile appearing on her lips.

"Because I could, and there aren't any catches. You are free to leave whenever you want, though unless you're in a hurry, I invite you to stay for some time, until they stop looking for you in their full forces." He said and got up, walking towards the door but then stopping when he reached it. "Besides, we are almost distant relatives. I'm like your distant half-cousin or something." He said and opened the door. "A big fucking happy family…" He mumbled as he left the room.

Kitsune was left sitting on the bed, processing the information she had just received and understanding that the time for questions was officially over. She also noticed that he didn't ask her anything about her past. A few minutes passed before she decided it was time to get up.

She stood up and stretched her back, groaning in satisfaction. She walked to the door and opened it, revealing another room, this one larger.

There was a large couch and in front of it was a TV and a single table on the other side of the room. Memories of the life she had before she was captured flooded her mind. This was the living room. On the other side of the room, near the table, stood Alex, who fiddled in one of the cabinets who were lined up high on the wall. That was the kitchen.

"I'm sorry for the mess, didn't have the time to clean up…" He said without looking at her as he searched for something.

Kitsune walked to the sofa and sat there, looking around the room.

"Ahh, there you are." Alex said and when Kitsune looked at him he as holding a glass can with some dark brown substance in it. "Want some coffee?" He asked her. She shook her head, not quite knowing what coffee is. He then began searching for another object but Kitsune stopped watching at that point.

This place looked like a home, something she never had. After she was born she was abandoned resulting in her growing up in an orphanage. She was miserable there, she hated it. Everyone hated her, just because of her horns. After she grew up a little she ran away, just to grow up on the streets, stealing to survive… until she learned about the existence of her vectors. She started killing to survive. She regretted some kills, some she didn't.

A loud ringing sound broke her line of though. She looked around, searching for the source of the sound. Alex walked to the table and picked up a small object. Then he pressed something and held it to his ear. _It's a phone…_

"Yeah?" Alex said into the device. Even from the couch Kitsune could hear a loud male voice screaming from the top of his lungs. Alex flinched and held the device a full foot from his ear. Kitsune couldn't make out words but it was pretty obvious that the man on the other side was not happy.

"I can't! I have other… business to do." He said with a glance at Kitsune. "What?! You can't do this!" Alex suddenly yelled. Kitsune raised one of her eyebrows with a single question on her mind: what the hell is going on.

"Fine, but I won't stay for the whole day. No, I can't! I said,_ no_." He said angrily, wandering around the room in circles. "Fine, see you later." He said and placed the cellphone into his pocket. He looked around, his eyes darting from side to side, eventually coming to a stop on Kitsune.

"Alright I have a small problem now… I need to go to work or else ill get fired." He said, causing the young woman to look at him with confusion.

"Follow me…" He said and didn't wait. He came to her, grabbed her by the hand and dragged her with him.

"This is the refrigerator; check it out of you're hungry… The TV, turn it on if you want… You saw the room, you can sleep there…" He said while he dragged her across the apartment, showing her everything and how to use it. He led her to the last room and he opened the door, revealing a small room with a bathtub and a toilet.

"Take a bath if you want… you can take some clothes from my closet." He said and stepped back into the living room.

"That's it basically. I got to move now, ill be back later. I'm guessing that you decided to stay so stay inside the house and stay away from the windows." With that, he walked to the door.

"By the way, I forgot. Welcome to Kamakura." He said with a wide smile. He wore the remainder of his clothes and walked out of the apartment, leaving Kitsune standing there. Kamakura… the name was very familiar. She was born here…

She thought about his last words, one word in particular stood out amongst the others: Bath. A smile formed on her lips as she thought about it. How long was it since the last time she had an actual bath? In the institute they just entered the room and washed them from a hose.

She entered the bathroom and took off her shirt, throwing it on the sink and noticing the mirror. She slowly crossed the small room to stand in front of it. For the first time in many years, she saw her face. Her long reddish-pink hair that fell from her shoulders to her waist framed her pale face. She looked at her own face with much interest, moving her hair from the face, touching her horns and looking at her body.

"How did I change…?" She whispered to herself. She didn't look into a mirror since those years back when she was just a little girl. She certainly could see a lot of changes now, her lengths of hair, her face and eyes and even her pair of breasts that she never gave much attention to. A sudden though crossed her mind.

"Am I pretty?" she asked her reflection in the mirror, not really expecting a response. Before she was captured she cared about her appearance, to a point. She couldn't know now though, to herself, she looked fine but she had to ask someone else… and she had who to ask. She sighed to herself. _There is no way in the world that I will be able to repay him for this…_

* * *

"This is the last place she was seen at." One of the soldiers told O'Brian.

O'Brian was standing over the decapitated body of a soldier. He didn't manage to finish his report and as it seemed, didn't obey orders. Unfortunately it took them too long to find him and by the time they arrived the target's trail has gone cold. No witnesses, no clues about her whereabouts, nothing. A team of paramedics just arrived to collect the body, or what was left of it.

"Andrew, what are we going to do?" Asked Mike, who walked to stand near the sergeant. Mike was in his thirties with a heavy body build and short black hair.

"I have no idea. We don't have many options, we already asked all the civilians in the area. They didn't see or hear anything. They only thing we _can_ do is to sit and wait for her to show up. She can't hide forever." He said while sighing.

"Don't worry, we'll find her." Mike said and patted him on the back.

"You know that they won't pay us until we capture or take her down, do you?" He asked Mike.

"Shit, you just have to spoil the good mood for everyone, do you? Hell, let me be happy that I didn't get ripped to pieces today like that guy." Mike said with a scowl and pointed to the bloody mess the body left.

"Sorry… I just don't want her to kill anymore innocent people. She's fucking dangerous." He said, answering his Mike's frown.

"Self-defense and this guy wasn't so innocent." Mike said and started to walk away. O'Brian walked to him and stopped him, giving him a questioning glare.

"There's one round missing in his rifle, and he probably shot her, she killed him in self-defense." Mike said, still frowning.

"Still, she killed him. He got in her way, what if civilians would get in her way? Would she just leave them alone?" Andrew asked.

"Very possible, she passed through multiple areas full of civilians. Just a single casualty, she flipped his car when he almost ran her over with it." Mike spat, trying to get his point to his leader. There truth in his words, some of it simply didn't enter O'Brian's thick skull.

"And what about the man on the beach? Did he get in her way? I doubt that he even thought about harming her!" Andrew countered. Mike stopped the argument; he just stood there and looked at him.

"She is a threat, if we can, we will capture her but if we can't, we have to kill her. We are getting our orders, we follow them." He stated.

"But she's just a young girl…" Mike said, expressing his doubt.

O'Brian didn't have to say anything. He just looked at the large puddle of blood that was on the floor. Mike looked at it as well and sighed.

"Don't go leaving on us all of a sudden, were a team." Andrew said to his brother in arms, understanding his doubts.

"Fine, I'll follow orders, but it doesn't mean I'll have to like it." He said and walked away. O'Brian stood there for a few more minutes, just watching the surrounding area.

"Where the hell are you…?" he whispered, hoping that by sheer luck and a miracle he would get a response.

* * *

Kitsune was laying inside the bath, submerged to her neck, her hair floating around her. She felt pure delight, something she didn't remember experiencing at all. Her mind was clouded, she didn't want to move, and she didn't want to think about anything. She just wanted to stay there, in the warm, steaming water and savor this moment for the rest of her life.

* * *

**Thats it for the time being! If you have any questions, feel free to ask, like i said before. I said that the next chapter would be updated shortly, and i kept my word, lets hope that i will be able to do so again.  
Anyway, i hope that you enjoyed readin this chapter, even though it wasnt really eventful. Reviews are always more then welcome. if you liked this story, leave a review. this way it will only improve!  
Support will only help. Anyway, i hope you enjoyed, so its good bye for the time being. See ya!**


	3. First night

**A/N: Hello again. This is another Chapter of my fic! Well, i dont really have anything to say now, just enjoy this chapter and leave a review. Support is ALWAYS welcome, remember that.**

* * *

Alex wiped the sweat of his brow and lifted another crate of spare parts. He groaned as he almost buckled under the weight but with the help of an invisible vector he shifted the balance to his likings. He carried the small crate into the building behind him. He entered a large open hall with several cars lined up against the wall and 20 more crates like the one he was carrying were piled up in one corner.

He placed the crate onto the pile and wiped his brow again. It's been a long day, first that girl and now those crates. He shot a glance at the clock that was hanging above the office door.

It was 6 P.M and he finished his work for today. The sun was setting down and it would be getting dark soon. He decided he would stop wasting his time and go talk to Jirou now.

Alex walked to the door and knocked on it.

"Yeah, come in." Came a voice from inside and Alex opened the door.

"Oh, Alex, what did you want? I hope hat you finished unloading the truck." Jirou said when the young man came inside.

The office was a small room with a desk and all the walls were hidden with filing cabinets. On one of those cabinets was sitting a tiny TV, which wasn't on right now. Jirou was sitting on his old chair, looking through the large pile of papers that was resting on his table, not even bothering to look up from his current occupation.

Jirou was in his early forties, the owner of the local car garage. He was tall, bald and of heavy build. His clothes were simple and surprisingly clean when compared to the clothes his worker wore.

"Yeah I finished and now I need to go. I already told you earlier." Alex said and cleaned some dust and dirt that was on his shirt. Jirou looked up from his papers and shot him his trademark furious scowl. Alex didn't react, he was too used to this look and he knew that it was all a show that Jirou always put up to all his workers.

"I though we agreed that you work until 8." He said eventually after seeing that his current opponent wasn't ready to give up.

"We haven't agreed on anything. I said that ill have to go early, you agreed and said that there are only a couple of jobs I need to do. I finished them so now I go home." Alex calmly responded.

"I can't pay you for a half day's work" Jirou stated.

"You didn't pay me two of the three years that I worked for you…" Alex said with a wry smile.

"I gave you a place to stay." Jirou responded, flashing his own smile.

"You allowed me to sleep on the couch in this garage. And I kept your garage safe from thieves…"

5 Years ago, when Alex escaped he had nowhere to go. He lived on the streets until 3 years ago he met Jirou. At first, Jirou sent him on small errands, like delivering packages and something of the likes and even allowed him to sleep at the garage after a while. Jirou then decided to teach him a thing or two about cars and soon enough, Alex was working at the garage, helping Jirou with his job. This garage has become his home, and he lived there for 2 years. Though a year ago, Jirou brother moved away from Kamakura, leaving behind his old apartment. Jirou then officially hired Alex and for a certain amount of his monthly pay Jirou's brother allowed him to live in his apartment. Over the past 3 years, Jirou had become a sort of a fatherly figure to Alex. He though that Jirou might be the only person who would want to help a young kid who barely knew how to read and even give him a place to stay. Of course though, there was much to gain from such an alliance. Alex was a cheap worker and he worked for him for 2 years for absolutely free and even now, he wasn't earning that much. Alex didn't care though, Jirou helped him a lot, and this was the way Jirou wanted him to pay back the favor.

"Also, I don't think I might be able to come to work tomorrow." Alex added. He had much more important business to take care of.

"What?!" Jirou said with a scowl, only this time it was genuine. "Why? Does this have to do something with the reason you need to leave early today?"

"Yeah…" Alex said without finishing the sentence. He didn't want to lie to him, but he couldn't tell him the truth. He thought about his response if he would say that he had a mutant that escaped a government facility probably by killing a few dozen guards taking refuge at his apartment…

"An old friend of mine just came to town and is currently staying at my place." He said eventually.

"An old friend? You work here almost every day and I don't give you enough free time to make friends…" Jirou said doubtfully.

"She's a good friend. I met her before I met you and she doesn't have anywhere to stay at the moment…" Alex said, trying to reduce the amount of doubt on his friend's face.

"She?" Jirou said with the doubt disappearing altogether from his face and a wry smile replacing it.

"Shut up." Alex said with a frown. "She came without a warning and now I need to help her out a little. I never asked for any favors, but I am now. C'mon, give me a couple of days off…"

"A couple of days? I thought you wanted only one!" He almost yelled but the look on Alex's face silenced him. "Fine, you get your couple of days, but don't forget about the end of the week, we need to clean this place up!" He finally said.

"Great. Then I'm going now, ill see you later." Alex said and left the room.

Alex said his goodbyes to the rest of the workers and left the garage.

* * *

O'Brian and his team were sitting around a table with a map spread wide upon it.

"Alright, she was last seen here." He said and pointed to a spot on the map. "She can't be far away from that area. People haven't seen or heard anything about her. Its not very easy to miss a horned girl."

"We notified the local police and all the town exits are watched. If she would try to leave, we will capture her before she manages to even set one foot outside." He continued.

"We've been looking for her around town for the whole day and the guards at the border haven't seen anything. She's still in the town, somewhere." Jack said.

"Yeah, but where?" O'Brian shot back. "Most odds are that she was hiding during the day. It's safer to move around at night, for her at least." A chorus of sighs accompanied his last words.

"I guess we won't sleep this night…" Derrick mumbled.

"Yeah, we won't. This isn't some missing girl; she is a real threat to anyone getting near her." Andrew said with all seriousness, shooting a glance at Mike. He didn't want him bringing up that argument again.

"Well, so far she hadn't killed anyone. Shes not stupid, she knows that if she would kill anyone, we would be there in moments." Jack said. His words made sense.

"So until then, we search for her in the old way: we are asking around and use our eyes. Well, not us directly…" Andrew answered.

"We have patrols on the streets and if any one of them sees a trace of her, were moving in. We need to be at full readiness to move out, got that?" O'Brian finished and got up. The rest of the team stood, most of them sighing and complaining.

"This is going to be a long night…" The sergeant whispered to himself.

* * *

Alex was halfway to his home and he though about the events of the day. First, he knocked down a Diclonius girl and now he was hiding her in his home. He tried to think of something he could do with her. She can't hide in his house forever but she can't go outside either. It was pretty obvious that they were still looking at her, and quite frantically. This day alone he saw a helicopter five times. The police patrols have grown more frequent as well. They won't allow her to get away simply. Now, he was in the same boat with her. If she would be located, with him, he would be chased as well. He released a sigh and kept walking on. It was year since the last time they looked for him. As it seemed, they gave up on the search for him eventually. He hoped that the same would happen with Kitsune.

He was caught up in thought and he didn't notice a pair of men until he almost collided with them.

"Sorry…" He mumbled and tried to return to his path but one of them grabbed his shoulder. He looked at them and noticed that they wore a police uniform.

"Wait…" one of them said while the other fumbled in one of his pockets, eventually taking out a picture and showing it to Alex. In the picture he saw Kitsune's face, only a little bit younger.

"Have you seen this girl?" The one who was holding his shoulder asked. Alex looked at the picture again.

"No, I haven't. What happened to her?" He asked, interested to hear the version the institute gave to the local police.

"It's just a missing girl. Her family really misses her and they are worried for her." The officer answered. Alex fought to urge to laugh. He doubted that anyone there would ever be worried for one of their kind.

"Well, if you would see her, call is immediately, okay? Now walk on, it's not safe to walk around the night by yourself." The second officer said and ordered his partner to release the young man.

"Don't worry; I can take care of myself. Good night." He said and returned to his way, giving his best try of politeness.

He was back on his way, trying to look unsuspicious as possible. '_Who knows, maybe someone is watching me.'_

* * *

Alex climbed the stairs to third floor and took out his keys from his pocket. He made sure that no one was following him before he entered the building and he was a lot calmer then before. He chuckled at himself. It seemed that he was getting paranoid. _'Why shouldn't I? I have settled down, I have a home, a job and everything!' _he though to himself.

He turned the keys and opened the door and his mouth dropped. There, in his kitchen, was crouching a still naked young woman and wiping the floor with a towel. The floor, needless to mention, was dirty.

He entered his home, almost forgetting to close the door after him, and reached the kitchen. The scene in front of him suddenly made sense: it looked like a failed and disastrous attempt at cooking. Kitsune noticed him and stood up in front him in her full height causing him to turn around and avoid looking at her.

"For modesty's sake, you can't walk around naked like this!" He said to her without looking at her.

"Why? What's wrong with my body?" She asked with an innocent voice which caused Alex to look at her with an incredulous stare. She chuckled and shrugged.

"You just… well, go get something to wear, ill clean this up." He said and took the towel from her hand. With another shrug, Kitsune went to the room to get dressed.

Alex crouched and inspected the scene. He noticed some broken eggs on the floor and more substances that he couldn't identify. On the table he noticed his cooking book, opened. Looked like she was trying to make herself a meal… and he noticed what looked like hair, a lot of reddish pink hair.

Kitsune returned to the room, now wearing the simple white T-shirt he gave her this morning, and still hadn't decided whether she should wear some pants or not. He ignored this and looked at her head. Now her hair was about his owns length, just a little bit longer, just below the shoulders. Surprisingly, it was neatly cut.

"Your hair…" he said and Kitsune smiled and grabbed a few strands with her fingers.

"I didn't like how they looked so I grabbed the scissors and fixed it." She said with another wide smile. "Sorry about the kitchen though… I tried following your book but it didn't turn out so well." She mumbled and lowered her gaze.

"Don't worry, no wrong done. Go sit on the couch meanwhile or something, watch the TV if you want, ill clean this up." He said to her and she listened.

She sat on the couch and Alex turned on the TV. He gave her a quick tutorial on how to use the remote control and returned to the kitchen to clean up that mess.

15 minutes later, he finished cleaning the kitchen and he was halfway on finishing making the dinner for both of them. It wasn't anything complicated, just some fried eggs, not even fitting for a dinner, but he didn't care. He was hungry and he wanted to eat now. A few minutes later, he carried a pair of plates and placed them on the small table in front of the couch and Kitsune.

Kitsune smiled in glee and grabbed her plate. Alex set beside her and grabbed his own. Kitsune seemed to really enjoy the meal and he was glad that someone liked his cooking prowess. They finished eating and Alex washed the dishes. He kept sending glances at her, studying her. She wasn't like the other Diclonius he encountered before, not that he encountered many of them. He met only a pair before and both of them were practically insane. The only thing they cared about was killing humans, and they were quite sadistic while at it.

He wanted to know who was living in his house now, but he knew that she wasn't going to answer to his questions now. She didn't quite trust him yet, something he could see in her eyes.

He finished washing the dishes and returned to sit beside her. They sat there together, switching through channels until they finally stopped on a comedy movie.

Kitsune didn't laugh much but when she did it was a loud, a little bit childish laugh. Alex couldn't help but smile whenever she laughed. In the institute, there were many reasons to laugh. At least Kitsune had a reason now.

He stiffened for a moment when Kitsune rested her head on his shoulder. He gave her a glance and relaxed. She was watching the TV screen with half-opened eyes. The movie was interrupted with a news broadcast and a series of events were shown, none of them good, Alex half-listened to it all. An act of terrorism in some place that Alex didn't care about, news about some war, trial of some serial killer, and other things. Alex's attention was focused on Kitsune, who seemed deep in though.

"You know… the humans will kill themselves eventually." She whispered finally.

"I know. As for me, I don't want to be the reason for their demise." He said. Kitsune raised an eyebrow.

"We, Diclonius, are just the mean to make that day closer. We are human's as well, me at least."

"All these wars, these killings… the only thing they want to do is kill each other." She said

"Let me tell you something. Humanity is just a big gathering of hypocrites. When they kill each other, they have plentiful reasons set ready if one asks them why, but when something else shows up and kills them, us, its wrong. We are different, and they use it against us."

"Makes sense, in a way." Kitsune remarked.

"We are not so different. When something hurts us, it's wrong for us. I saw how you killed that guy when we met. I haven't seen any hesitance, any doubt. You killed him and that's it."

"But that's different. He tried to kill me, and he would've killed me if I allowed him. And after all they did to us, to me, they deserve it."

"Perhaps." Alex answered. "He wasn't directly responsible though."

"Maybe he wasn't. But you can't deny that he would've killed me again and again given the option."

"Alright, let's stop this. We aren't perfect, nor are the humans. I'm neither of both, that gives me the option to choose what I want to be." He finished with a chuckle. Kitsune turned her head and looked at him curiously.

"I don't have any horns at the moment and you can't sense me." He said to her and she nodded. "But I have vectors and I can sense you. I can choose what to be. So can you, but for some unknown reason, our kind doesn't understand that."

A moment of silence passed between them. Kitsune found it quite funny that Alex just told her that he isn't a Diclonius, yet he was referring to it as 'our'. _'Talking about hypocrites…'_

"The humans describe the Diclonius as murdering evil creatures whose sole purpose in life is killing, and what do we do? We prove them right, most of us at least."

"There was a nice doctor back in the institute… that was years ago, many years. One time I asked him why I was kept there, chained to a wall. He gave me an answer. Because I am a monster, that I was born to kill and even if I don't kill now, I will kill later. That took me quite by surprise but from those words I got a madman's wish." He continued.

"I had this thought in my mind for years… 'What if I won't kill, ever, what if I will prove them wrong… maybe they would release me.' Needless to say that he laughed in my face. But I kept my promise, I never killed, never hurt anyone…" He released a heavy sigh. "He worked with me for years. He was a nice man."

"Was?" Kitsune asked.

"I killed him." He calmly said without blinking, sending a shiver down across Kitsune's spine for some unknown reason. Another moment of silence passed between them.

"… Why?"

"Because he asked me…" He sadly said. "He came to me one night, was after I got my vectors… and he begged me to kill him. He said he couldn't take this anymore… and he begged me to kill him. I don't know why he exactly asked _me _to do this, when there's a dozen more like me who would be willing to do this." A painful expression appeared on his face. Kitsune was at a loss for a moment.

"He was like… a friend to me. Whenever he examined me, did those test, I could see the regret in him, he didn't like it. Well, in the end I agreed. I killed him and I didn't want to kill since that day. I don't know if you would understand this… but it was painful for me." He said, the calm tone returning to him.

He was right, she couldn't understand him. Ever since she was aware that she could kill, she killed and never regretted about it. Suddenly she realized how different the man sitting beside her was from her.

"Anyway, I think its enough of this grim talk." He said, closing the matter.

Kitsune returned her gaze to the TV screen and Alex followed her gaze. Soon enough he felt her head on his shoulder again but he didn't react to it like last time. They continued watching the movie. Alex noticed that she didn't laugh at all this time and when he glanced at her he noticed her closed eyes and slow breathing rhythm. He smiled to himself and slowly stood up.

He gently lifted her up and carried her to his bed. He was a little surprised. She was heavier then he expected. He carefully laid her down and covered her with his warm blankets. He then went to the closet and took out some sheets and an extra pillow and soon enough, he had a makeshift bed on the floor. He returned to the living room, turned everything off and went to bed.

* * *

He woke up early morning and he sat up and looked around himself. The first thing he noticed was the young woman lying on his bed, with a serene smile on her face. He sat there for a while, looking at her before getting up and making the preparations for a breakfast.

* * *

**Well, here it was. I hope it turned out fine and that you liked it. Sorry if it wasnt really eventful but dont worry, hopefully the next chapter would be more interesting. Anyway, that was me, leave a review, please, and good night!**


	4. Gifts

**A/N: Hey, im back! Sorry that it took me this long to update, but here i am, finally updated. So here i give you this new chapter, i hope you will enjoy this. This chapter was surprisingly not as hard as i thought i would be to write and i finally finished writing it. So... now read and enjoy!**

* * *

Alex was a unique man. He wasn't a human, but he wasn't a Diclonius as well. He survived on his own for a long time, without having any kind of knowledge on the outside world or anything concerning it. But he knew who he was and he grown up to be a fine man, at least, that's what his boss and co-workers said.

He was a man that could lift a few tons with but a thought.

He was a man that survived countless hours of being experimented on like an animal.

He was a man that survived living in the streets, without even knowing what he was eating, where he was or anything at all.

He survived then, managed to pull through the second hellish experience he had during his life in the streets. He didn't really think that something could challenge him back then, but now…

He was a man who felt like he was the clueless kid that escaped from the institute again.

He looked over a collection of skirts of various colors, though pink dominated most of them. He cringed when he heard one girl giggle behind him and he tried ignoring them, heck, he somehow managed to ignore the last ten or something girls who either gave him odd looks or giggled. And he didn't even step into the lingerie section of this shop! Though he wasn't sure he would even dare stepping into that dreadful zone.

After the breakfast he decided he should buy her some clothes, since really, he doubted he would live that long if she kept walking around the apartment with no clothing since she apparently found clothes an inconvenient thing. His hormones weren't really helping either since there _was_ a beautiful naked young woman walking around in his apartment. Besides, his clothes were a bit big on her, not so around the chest area, as she seemingly insisted of showing him, but he thought, or more accurately: hoped, that she was simply uncomfortable wearing them.

At first it was simple, a simple plan: He gets in, grabs a couple of shirts and pants or skirts, pays and gets out. But once he got there… Murphy's Law kicked into play.

At first, he received a weird look from the woman was at the cash registry. He could understand it in a way. It wasn't usual for a young guy to step into clothing's shop in downtown Kamakura, a shop which sold mainly women's clothing.

Then, he understood that he didn't have a clue on what to buy for her. At first, he thought that he should just buy something that _he_ liked but then, what if she didn't like it? The problems continued to follow with him finding out that he didn't have Kitsune's measurements; the irritating looks the other customers gave him, and the dreadful occupation of getting her a bra and panties. He actually considered getting back home and getting her to come with him here, but it was out of the question. She was still searched for, if the occasional helicopter was an indication, and she should wait another week at the least to poke her head out of the window.

Sighing in frustration he decided he needed help, feminine help. He sent a glance at one of the workers who already asked him if he needed help and he regretted that he politely refused.

Sighing again and still flabbergasted that he was brought down but clothes above all else, he went to ask the young woman for help.

* * *

It was a couple of hours later that he entered his apartment to find suspicious silence, or unlike the last time it happened, tidiness and neatness. In fact, it didn't seem as if Kitsune was even there, it was just like Alex left it when he went outside. Closing the door behind him and placing the shopping bags on the floor he stepped inside, trying not to worry. The ideas still crept into his mind. What if the SAT found her and took her away? No, it's too clean, and SAT rarely did a clean job, something he witnessed 2 years ago. Besides, he doubted the young woman that now lived with him would've left his house clean in case of an attack. Vectors used on human beings were rarely the cleanest tool.

"Kitsune?" He called out, preparing himself to block a hail of bullets just in case.

"You're back!" He heard a voice and saw the young woman poke her head out of his room. A second later she came out naked as in the day she was born. He quickly averted his eyes, trying to look at anything but below her neckline. "Took you long enough." She said cheerily, offering him a smile.

He sighed in relief. He knew he was paranoid now, since he did house a fugitive in his home. But being overly careful wont hurt anyone now; at least he hoped it wouldn't.

"Sorry it took this long, but I didn't really know what you wanted or your sizes or anything like that…" He trailed off. "Anyway, here…" He handed her the bags. "This is yours now."

She took the bags with a beaming smile that would've melted Alex under normal circumstances and looked inside. _'I hope she doesn't have anything against skirts.' _He thought.

She rummaged through the bags with child-like curiosity and glee. Apparently she didn't have anything against skirts, or clothes for that matter, as she looked over various shirts, skirts, pants and even a pair of hats. Alex in the meanwhile walked over to the window and took out his cigarette pack, lighting one of the health-endangering objects with his Zippo lighter, and decided to give her some privacy while contemplating on his next course of action. He couldn't keep her here forever, he did have a job and a rent to pay and he doubted that she would like to stay locked in his house as well. It would be like escaping from a prison just to end up in another one, just more hospitable.

"What's this?" She suddenly asked him, thus breaking his line of thought. He looked to find the contents of the bags splayed all over the couch, some even on the floor. What worried him more was what she was holding in her hands. She fumbled with a bra and looked it over, curiosity in her eyes.

"Ahh…" He started, choking a bit on the smoke in his lungs, not quite sure how to explain this to her. It was one of those scenarios that he never expected to find himself in. He looked over at the pink bra, wondering how he will explain it to her. He noted that most of the clothes her were pink or in another bright and cheerful color. It was too bright in his opinion, but he knew that he needed that young woman's help, even if she chose the colors.

"Its f-for…" he drifted off, though indicated to her breasts. She looked at them, and carefully and rather awkwardly tried them on. Alex, who was silently watching the scene, sighed and moved over to help her. This was the second scenario he wasn't expecting to find himself in. He never actually did this before, nor did he imagine he would be doing this anytime soon but after a few minutes of trying to figure out how to put that thing on he finally managed to somehow succeed in this new challenge.

After that she stood in front of him, giving him a good view of her body. He really tried to ignore the fact that the only thing she wore was the bra.

"Why do I need this?" She asked him. Alex thought about it and found out a curious fact.

"I have no idea. But all the girls wear this." He explained, hoping that his explanation would be enough. "Oh… okay." She muttered but did not complain.

Alex knew that he should consider himself lucky, in an odd way. During their conversations she told him that she wasn't born into the institute, like himself did, but was captured in her childhood. He guessed that those were rather rare, since he did interact with several other captive Diclonius, and from what he knew, all of them were like him: Born into that hell.

She was captured when she was young, she could remember how old she was back then, but she had the minimal knowledge of the 'legendary outside life' that many young children in the institute heard about. Unlike himself, she did have the did have the good sense of not pissing herself when she needed to relieve herself… but he preferred of not remembering those hard and often embarrassing days.

An hour later she stood in front of him in her new outfit. She wore a short bright blue knee-length skirt with a pink blouse her reddish-pink hair beautifully framing her smiling face. She stood in front of him, looking expectedly at him and he paused for a second on her horns. That would be a problem if she decided to go outside, since the institute had obviously asked the police to look for a girl with horns. He noted that her horns were a bit longer than his own were, but he couldn't be sure… maybe they grew longer with age? He hadn't seen his own in years.

In any way, she won't wear those clothes in a while. He doubted that skirt would fit the early December days.

"How do I look?" She asked, spinning around to give him a view from all angles.

Alex was still pondering about the horns when she asked him and he paused to look. It was good to see her in clothes now, even though he subconsciously _knew_ that he didn't mind seeing her without them (something that caused his face to redden quite a bit, which the young woman noticed) but she did look good, regardless what she was wearing.

"You look beautiful." He finally answered.

Kitsune beamed, if that was a fitting word to describe her ear-to-ear smile, and for a second Alex almost couldn't believe that the girl could kill him with a single thought, and killed before. Then again, he couldn't believe that he could kill that easily too…

Kitsune was happy. No, she was blissful. Ever since she escaped from the institute life for her made a drastic U-turn towards better. She remembered her childhood vaguely, like watching old and blurred pictures. She remembered having a mother, who she thought loved her, that desire to be pretty; to be happy… those 10 or so years in the institute literally had beaten those childish desires out of her. But now, they were coming back to her, slowly, but they were there. She also somehow still remembered those stupid fairy tales her mother used to tell her before she was… killed? She didn't remember it that well, but she knew that she hasn't seen her mother since that day. In any way, she remembered how she wanted to be like one of those princesses in those stories. She actually had to wonder why she remembered such meaningless things from her childhood, but not her mother's face, or anything more important then those foolish things.

Returning to the present she still felt happy. She just received a compliment, something that she hadn't heard… in a very, very long time. She noticed his expression and stopped moving, taking note of his furrowed eyebrows and the way he was looking at her. He then walked to his jacket and pulled something out of there, something black. He walked to her and pulled that black thing over her head and pushed her over to stand in front of a mirror.

"Now it's perfect." He stated, pleased that he found a way to hide her horns so easily, and that he managed to add some darker color to her outfit. In all honesty, all those bright colors started to hurt his eyes.

She looked in the mirror and found herself standing there, with the beanie hat he wore earlier, completely covering her horns, though she did notice a pair of bulges on the hat, but it was barely noticeable unless you actually looked for the hidden horns. She frowned a bit, and turned to face him.

"You need it. Those people will be looking for a girl with horns, so unless you plan on cutting them off, something I won't want you to do…" He trailed off, knowing she understood what he meant.

She didn't really want to see how painful it was to have her horns removed. She preferred to trust Alex on that. She slowly raised her hand to his head, and slowly traces her fingers on what once his left horn. She felt the jagged bone with her finger and she noticed his left eye twitch, as if remembering something painful.

"How…?" She began but Alex interrupted her.

"I was stupid. Some street punks attacked me; I think they noticed my horns. I could've easily dispatched them without killing them, just a punch or two but… as I said, I was stupid. Didn't want to hurt them, and eventually they broke it off…" He finished.

"And the other one?" She asked, trailing her fingers on that one, noticing that it was smoother, as if it was cut off.

"I… removed it. Do you have any idea how weird I looked while walking around with a weird bone coming out of my head?" He asked incredulously, which caused the young woman in front of him to laugh.

"So… why shouldn't _I_ remove them?" She then asked softly, almost in a whisper.

"Well to begin with, it's a hellish pain that I wouldn't want anyone going through… besides… These horns look good on you." He said with a wide grin.

Kitsune looked at him incredulously. These horns were the source of her pain, the source of ten, or more, lost years from her life. These horns were what labeled her as a freak and the reason why she was in that institute in the first place. She remembered in her early days in the institute, where she spent a lot of her time trying to find out why she was there. Most of the people there ignored her, but one of her 'torturers' answered her: Because she had horns, because she was a monster. That was the reason she why she ended up there. After a while, she grew to hate them, despise them, wishing she was never born with them, she realized that because of those horns she didn't have a normal life with her mother.

And now, all out of the blue comes this boy in front of her stating that her horns looked good. In her book this defied the rules of logic. She stood there, staring at Alex with a dumbfounded expression, not knowing how to react. Alex in his part grew rather worried. She stood there and stared at him for a long moment, not even blinking. Jirou had told him about woman, how to act around them, how to talk to them but… He wasn't really sure if he should listen to him on that matter. Ever. Everyone who knew Jirou knew that his wife had him whipped. Badly.

Of course, Alex never had any experience with women beyond talking to them, since most of his time he was either working or staying home but Jirou and the other workers he spent his time with did give him good advice, advice that he saw succeed in action several times.

Woman loved compliments; at least that's what he witnessed. Of course, there were those who often ignored those, mainly Jirou's wife who sometimes really scared Alex. In his opinion, Kitsune did earn that compliment, since she did look great, with or without horns. And he certainly didn't expect this reaction.

Kitsune looked at him for a few, awkwardly silent moments before she did the only thing her mind could decide. Alex suddenly felt her weight on him and her arms wrapping themselves around him. They stood like that for a few seconds until Alex awkwardly returned it. She shifted a bit in his arms, resting her head in the crook of his head, causing his face to redden a bit.

"Thank you…" She whispered softly, moving away, one of her hands wiping her eye but still smiling.

"No problem. I'm just being honest." He said with a grin, moving away into the kitchen.

"What about your hat?" She asked suddenly, removing it from her head.

"Keep it, it's yours now. Consider it as a gift from me. I don't think those other hats I bought you would fit you as this one." He answered.

"Thanks…" She said after a moment of silence. She couldn't remember the last time she received any gifts, if she even got any at all. She fought the urge to hug him again since he did seem a bit agitated after the first one so she decided to just gaze at him.

She knew she was colossally lucky here. The first person she ran into, unless you include that man at the beach, was perhaps the kindest person she has ever seen in her whole life and perhaps the only one she will ever meet. He didn't know her though he knew what she was, but he wasn't afraid to approach her even if he did have means to protect himself against her. As far as he knew, she could be a damn psycho who wouldn't give a damn if she tore him to pieces and yet he still offered (More like forced) her his help, gave her a place to live and hide and gave her clothes and now this… and he didn't ask anything in return. This left her officially flabbergasted.

"Why?" She finally asked.

Alex paused in his digging in the refrigerator where he searched for something edible. "Why what?" He asked, raising one of his eyebrows.

"Why are you helping me? Why… you gave me all these things? Just… why?" She asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper, walking closer to him. She kept watching him, trying to read him through his eyes, which were locked staring at nowhere in particular.

"When I escaped…" He finally spoke. "I didn't know anything. I lived in the streets for 2 years without knowing anything. It was a ten times better then being in the institute, but it wasn't all fun and games. I always had to hide, since the institute wanted me back. I didn't know where to get food, I slept wherever I could when I found a safe place… it was like… the second hell in my life." He paused there, his brow furrowing. "I was always running, having no safe place for beyond a few nights or having to steal to eat something. What I'm saying is… I saw a chance to save someone from the same existence, someone who was very much like me, and I used that chance. It took me 2 years to meet someone who was willing to help me. I guess that you needed to find someone who would be willing to help you sooner than it took me…" He finished and returned to rummaging through the refrigerator.

She simply stared at him for a few moments before embracing him in a hug again. Alex flustered for a few seconds, not knowing what got into her to have her hug him twice in the span of few minutes.

"Thank you again… for everything." She said to him after an awkward minute to Alex.

"Uh… don't thank me, I'm happy to help you. You don't owe me anything." He said, turning around to hide the redness of his face. He wasn't used to such close show of affection from the opposite sex. Jirou had kindly decided to explain the dealings of both genders when he felt that Alex was old enough, which was a couple of years ago. At least it explained him why he felt weird around girls but it never made anything easier. In any way, he still never actually was close to any female, besides Jirou's wife who sometimes visited the shop, since he always was working and didn't actually go to school or anything like that, unlike normal kids.

Kitsune then turned around and went back into his room with Alex curiously watching.

"What are you doing in there anyway?" He asked after her.

"Oh, just looking through your stuff and don't worry, I didn't break anything. You have some interesting books down there."

"Oh." He just mouthed and decided not to interrupt her while he finally found some cheese and grabbed the bread to make a sandwich. As long as she won't make trouble, or more importantly destroy his belongings he won't complain.

* * *

**Ah... So here is the end. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you will be willing to show your support be reviewing. Your support will help me a lot, perhaps by making me update sooner, though i do promise to try and finish the next chapter by next week, but who knows what tomorrow will hold for me? Hopefully nothing horrible... So here you go, the 4th chapter is finished, i'll start writing the 5th VERY soon, maybe tomorrow. :) Soon also i will write about what happened to Lucy and Co, since this story happens 2 years after the events of the Anime. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and i will gladly answer. And if your wondering, this tory follows the Anime, but perhaps ill use some things from the manga as well. Dont forget to review! If you liked this story, SHOW me that you liked it and dont stay stalking in the shadows!**


	5. Weekend

**A/N: Hello again! I'm sorry for the short delay, but i had some family related business so i was rather busy. Anyway, here is the next chapter, enjoy reading it.**  


* * *

"Sarge! We found something!" Mike cried as he burst through the door, waving a piece of paper.

O'Brian looked up from the table of operations, which had a large map of Kamakura with several circled areas on it.

"What is it? It's better to be important." He stated, fully turning to his teammate, who was frantically offering him the piece of paper. He took it, noticing that it was a picture drawn by pencil.

"What is this?" He asked him, looking at a picture of a young man with black hair and dark eyes.

"That's out link. Around six feet tall, black hair, dark clothes, possibly a black jacket with jeans looking to be around 18-20 years old. He was seen about 3 to 4 minutes before that soldier died at the last seen location of the target. As we know, no one was seen leaving that place after the confrontation. We asked over a hundred civilians and no one saw him leave that place and around a dozen saw him there." Mike said enthusiastically.

"So you want to say…" O'Brian started but Mike interrupted him before he could finish.

"Yes! We saw no other body there, so it's possible that either she captured him for whatever reasons or that he left with her on his own accord."

O'Brian considered this for a few moments. It sounded farfetched but really, did they have anything else?

"I'm not sure… can we be sure of this?" He asked, still doubting Mike's idea.

"Do we have anything else? Let's give this to the local police. They will search for this kid, and if they find him its possible that we will find her with him… or if we don't find him…" He paused. "We can add him to the body count."

O'Brian thought it over. They didn't have anything to lose. For all they knew she could've been out of the town by now. There was no sign of her at all, so perhaps it was their only chance of finding her…

"Fine, give them this picture and tell them to start searching ASAP. Tell them to ask other civilians, go as far as printing his picture on a bloody milk box. Tell them to find him at all costs." He finished and watched as Mike was leaving the room. "And Mike…" Mike paused and looked back curiously. "Good job."

Mike laughed and closed the door behind him. O'Brian looked back at the map. They covered almost half of the town by now, only the other half remained. If they won't find her there, it would mean that she is out of the town. Now, Mike gave him and interesting theory. There was a chance that this kid took in a wanted murderer, without knowing who he actually offered help… but… that would be rather absurd. Since both the kid and the soldier were seen in the same place it would be almost impossible of him not knowing the girl's capabilities. But then… why had he left with her? He knew for sure that the girl didn't need any hostages, it would be pointless to her and since there were no reports of bodies lately, it would seem that the kid was still alive.

Now, the only question remaining was where they were. Something told him that the kid was still alive, and he now needed to find him. He was the key to her location.

* * *

"Kitty, I'm home!" Alex happily announced as he returned home one late afternoon after work. He also took after calling his new 'roommate' by a shorter version of her name: Kitty. He found the name Kitsune to be a name that didn't roll of the tongue while Kitty was easier to say time after time, and it was rather cute, though he will never admit it.

Kitsune, or how Alex called her, Kitty took it with stride, sort of. At first she was scowling madly each time he called her that way, then glared at him but after a couple of day she started ignoring the fact that he called her that way, though he knew it still irked her. Honestly, Alex was rather surprised that she still hasn't resorted to using her vectors on him, since really, he did it just to tease her, but the nickname stuck fast.

"Weekend… ah, I love them." He stated loudly, not really waiting for a response from the girl that lived with him. It has been a little over a week since the female Diclonius arrived to his humble home, and now, more importantly, it was weekend: The time for him to rest and a couple of days without Jirou calling him to get some work done.

"Hey, how was your day?" She answered from somewhere in the depths of the apartment, which had only a single room. Alex noticed that she took a liking to reading his books, which weren't really his; they were just left by Jirou's brother when he moved away.

"Boring as always, moving stuff and helping out the other guys…" He said while taking out all the things he bought on his way home. "I bought you something!" He called out, taking out a can of soda. He didn't have a chance of showing her the true wonders of taste. Personally he liked soda and he was sure that she would like it as well.

Then, he took out his own treat, a pair of cans, filled with his favorite beer. He wasn't fond of drunkenness, but the taste of beer was something different for him. In his opinion, unlike the opinion many other have, he found beer to be tasty, even with the unwanted side effect of being drunk.

He would have to thank Jirou for introducing him with the beverage some day.

"What is it?" She asked from his room.

"It's in the fridge, in a can. You will see it when you look for it." He called back.

"Okay."

He chuckled as he put the rest of the groceries into the fridge. For some reason they both always resorted to yelling at one another when they were in different rooms, even though they could hear each other fine just by talking. The only other ones he saw who have such behavior are Jirou and his wife, who were an old married couple by standards. He had to wonder when had he and Kitsune started acting like one.

Right now though, instead of wondering about things he would never find an answer for he should prepare for his weekly ritual: getting relaxed in a warm, steaming bath. Even though he used his vectors for the heavier objects, he refrained from using them too much, since it usually gave him quite a headache after a prolonged use. Thus, he mostly used his own strength to lift those objects or whatever other tasks he did back at the garage.

He sighed in satisfaction as he imagined the warm water around him, relaxing his aching body after a long day of work. He would've liked to do this particular ritual every day, but he didn't have the time, though really, he was rather lazy after a day of work at Jirou's place.

Unpacking the remaining groceries he then took preparations for his favorite ritual.

* * *

Jirou was leaving out for lunch when a pair of police officers stopped him. He had to wonder what he could've done to warrant them stopping him from his needed break.

"Excuse me sir, I'm sorry to interrupt you but have you seen this guy?" One of the officers asked, showing him a picture of a familiar face. His surprise must've shown on his face because the second officer stepped closer to him and blocked his escape.

"You know him?" He asked.

"What did he do?" Jirou finally asked. He couldn't believe what he was seeing here. The police was searching for Alex, his Alex. The boys that he practically helped grow, the boy he thought of as a son after all those years. He knew that Alex wouldn't do anything stupid, he wasn't an idiot. He knew that the kid used to steal before he met him, but he did it to get himself food and now, he didn't need to do such kind of things. Just what did Alex get himself into now?

"Oh, he did nothing at all. We believe that he knows where a runaway girl stays and her father would really want her back."

Jirou nearly slapped himself in the face. Of course Alex wouldn't do anything related to crime and it did add up since he did found out that Alex had a girl staying at his place though no matter how much he was asked to he never did say who she was. He sighed in relief. Why didn't Alex tell him before?

"He works at my place and I know that he has a girl staying at his place…" He said.

"Really? Can you give us the address? Her father is calling us every day and he would be very happy to see her again." The first officer said, offering him a smile.

"Alright, I don't see anything wrong with that. Do you have a piece of paper or anything?" Jirou asked, relieved that his worker and the boy who was like a son to him wasn't in any trouble. The officer took out a notebook and a pen, handing them to him.

After writing the address down he handed them the notebook back and they thanked him for his cooperation and left him to his own business.

He released a small chuckle as he went to his own way, preferably to get some food to eat. It was rather fitting of Alex to offer refuge to a runaway girl. He just hoped that girl was worth it.

* * *

A slight cold wind stirred him from his sleep. Alex didn't notice that he fell asleep, but he knew that he did. The water was still warm so he knew that it wasn't that long, an hour at the most. He raised his hand and moved the wet towel, which was cold by now, from his face. He blinked the grogginess from his eyes and tried to discern the source of the cold breeze that was in the room. The first thing he noticed was the open door. He froze for a second; open doors were never a good sign, especially when you knew that you left them closed. That left only one explanation: a particular red haired girl.

He was about to call out and ask her if she opened the door when a sudden splash of water and a weight on his chest interrupted him, causing the towel to drop into the bath. The only indication of what it was was the flash of reddish pink hat his eyes caught.

"W-what the fuck!" He nearly screamed when he finally recognized the object that was leaning on him to be the girl that lived with him.

"Stop screaming. You're noisy…" She muttered, moving herself closer to more comfortable position on Alex's body. Only then Alex noticed that she had no clothes on her.

He completely froze, fearing what she would do now. As far as he knew, naked girls jumping into your bathtub was not a normal occurrence. After a moment of silence he started to notice the warmth of her body against his, and he was sure that the warm water had nothing to do with that, the feeling of her breasts on his chest and her hot breath on his neck. He suddenly found himself begging that his hormones won't start acting and that she wouldn't notice the unavoidable reaction in his lower boy that would surely follow.

"W-what a-are you d-doing?" He stuttered, half aware that his face was redder then her hair.

"What? Oh, I was bored…" She muttered.

"Oh…so you decided to jump into my bathtub while I was in it because you were bored?" Alex asked, half amazed and half annoyed. She then started moving again, though a little. He felt her hand moving across his chest, causing a shiver to move across his spine.

"Yeah…thanks for the drink by the way though you didn't have to buy me two of those. I'm not that sure about the taste though, it was a bit bitter and it made me feel a bit small…" She muttered, drifting away.

It took him a few seconds to register what she said and when he did he gaped at her, his mouth like a large 'O' and a horrified look in his eyes.

"You drank my beer! I can't believe this, and…small?" He practically screamed, then paused. "Oh, you must be drunk now…or sleepy," he added once he saw that she wasn't really listening and instead snuggled closer to him with her eyes closed. They staid in silence for a few minutes, Alex completely unmoving while Kitsune moving around, trailing her hands over his body (which didn't help Alex at all).

"You know? I'm tired of being stuck in here. I didn't escape that place to stay here for all my life," She suddenly said.

Alex knew what she was talking about; he saw it in her for the past few days. The look of irritation in her eyes every single time she looked out of the window or into the TV screen. He knew why she escaped and understood why she was irritated now but…what could he do about it? He didn't want her to be recaptured or worse, killed on sight and, though he won't say it to her, he didn't want her to leave since he really did enjoy her company.

"Kitty…you know that you shouldn't leave. They are still looking for you and they _will_ find you if you go out and I…I don't want you to be captured," He said softly, hoping to appease her.

"You don't want me to be captured? And why is that?" She asked him in an odd tone, a tone that sent another shiver down his spine.

"Uh…well. Ah, you're fun and it will be…uh, empty here without you…what are you doing?" he paused when he felt her bite his ear, not enough to be painful but enough for him to notice it like he was being slapped.

"Just something I read in a book…" She mumbled and nibbled on his ear again.

Now Alex was beginning to feel nervous. His experience with girls was very limited but this…this thing made him nervous. He couldn't be sure what was on her mind right now though he was sure it wasn't something that was on _his_ mind.

"Do you like it?" She whispered into his ear. The young man's eyes widened to the size of plates when he felt something warm, soft and wet touch his ear. He couldn't be sure but he was willing to bet that it was her tongue that touched his ear. Now the only thing left was to find out just which book she read that taught this to her.

"Uh…y-yeah." He stuttered.

"Good for you." She said cheerily and stood up suddenly. Kitty stepped out of the bath, dripping water and forming a small puddle at her feet affording her male companion a good view of her body. She grabbed a towel and left the room, leaving a dumbfounded Alex in the bath.

"What the hell just happened?" he mumbled under his breath.

Five minutes later he exited the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel and he spotted Kitsune sitting on the windowsill just like he would often do. She was wrapped only in her towel but he ignored that, concentrating on the longing expression that was plastered on her face. All he had to do was to do a simple equation to know what was on her mind.

Releasing a sigh he walked up to her and tapped her shoulder, causing her to look at him curiously.

"Get dressed, we're going out," He ordered.

"W-what?" She asked with an amusingly surprised expression on her face.

"Get dressed, we're going out." He repeated.

She blinked several times then dashed into 'her' room to get dressed, her face a mask of happiness that Alex didn't fail to notice.

Ten minutes later Kitty came out of the room wearing her usual clothes, her blue skirt and pink blouse, and literally bounced over to him.

"Come." He said simply, grabbing the keys from the apartment from the kitchen table, opening the door and motioning for Kitsune to step out. Closing the door he then instead of going down, as the girl expected, he went up the stairs. Following him, she climbed the steps until Alex came to a stop in front of a metal door. Taking out another set of keys from his pocket he opened the door and Kitsune felt a chilly wind brush her face.

Stepping outside, seeing that they were now on the roof of the building, she marveled at the sight before her. Hundreds of buildings stood before her, sounds of cars and people walking down in the busy streets were carried by the wind to her ears. She looked to the side and saw the most amazing sight her eyes have seen in her life. The orange-red sun glistening in the distance, sending it's fiery rays of light into the bay, creating thousand of small lights, like stars, on the waves. She knew what it was even though she hasn't seen it in a very long time she still could recognize the sunset.

A dragging sound brought her back to her senses and she looked back to see Alex dragging a pair of wooden chairs to her position.

"It's not exactly like going outside but I hope this is good enough. And no one can see us here anyway." He said rather sheepishly, placing the pair of chairs in front of him and motioning to her to sit in one of them.

She took her seat and resumed her watch, enjoying her first sunset in many years.

"It's…beautiful." She whispered.

"Yeah, I know. We have those chairs here for a reason after all." He chuckled.

After that, silence broke out for a long time. They both sat silently in their chairs and watching the slowly descending sun. After a while the sun finally disappeared under the horizon but the show wasn't over for the young woman. Alex motioned up and she did as he told and she noticed the second thing she hasn't seen in years: stars.

Alex saw the genuine look of glee in her eyes and he felt himself satisfied. He continued at staring at her for several minutes, taking in the joyous expression of her face and just how beautiful she looked like that.

After a few more minute he noticed that it was growing colder and he motioned her to get up, chuckling at the pout she now wore.

"It's getting colder and I don't want you to catch a cold. I can barely take care of myself and I don't want you to take the risk of me taking care of you," He replied with a wide grin. "We can come back tomorrow,"

"Oh, fine," she relented and followed him down to the apartment.

* * *

"Sir, this is Derrick, I have a visual on the target. She is with the civilian, I repeat, she is with him." Derrick announced through his radio as he looked through a pair of binoculars as he sat on the edge of a ten story building near the house of the civilian they were tasked to find.

"Well I'll be damned, Mike was right!" He heard O'Brian say.

"Should I take the shot?" He asked, taking hold of his sniper rifle, a 50. BMG that the Institute recommended using, as they explained, they couldn't block those kind of projectiles.

"No, we might get the civilian injured. I don't know why he is still alive, but we will send a task force as soon as we will be ready. Maintain your position until further orders,"

"Roger that," He answered and put down the radio device. He then took out his thermos filled with his favorite coffee, with the knowledge that he would stay on this roof for the whole night or more he poured some of it into a cup and prepared for a long and cold night.

He just hoped that he would have enough coffee, since Andrew will kill him if he will lose the target.

* * *

**Hehe, now the plot thickens! This will get more interesting and i know for sure that i will greatly enjoy writing the next chapter. Hopefully I will finish writing it by next week and that the smoke from the damned forest fires won't kill me before that.  
Thank you for reading and i hope you enjoyed reading this! Leave a review if you liked this, I'm always glad to recieve constructive criticism, suggestions or anything else of the like. Until next time, Del.**


	6. A bad morning

**A/N: Okay, with a bit of delay I finally update this story with this chapter! Now, this one is a bit longer than usual, which isn't exactly a bad thing in my opinion, more to our enjoyment. Anyway, enjoy reading this and have fun!**

* * *

Alex slowly opened his eyes and quickly closed them from the cursed sunlight the seeped through his window. As his body slowly regained his senses he noticed the existence of a certain weight at his side. Slowly and carefully opening his eyes he noticed red hair at his chest.

Remembering that the last time he checked his body this wasn't there he began to examine it more closely, finally seeing the rest of the object. Then he wished he hadn't waked up.

Wondering just why Kitty decided to sleep with him on the floor instead of his rather comfortable bed, and why she slept naked, he gave up and decided that she simply did it on purpose to get him flustered. He saw no other reason for her to act that way, especially like she acted yesterday during his bath.

The girl suddenly stirred, he hands wrapping themselves around his torso tighter he decided not to move. Deciding that he didn't want to wake her up, since it was the weekend and he could sleep until evening if he wanted, he tried making himself as comfortable as he could, all the while trying to ignore the feeling of her warm body against his and the rising heat in his face, he closed his eyes for another session of sleeping.

* * *

Opening his eyes, yawning and stretching he noticed the absence of Kitty's weight on him. Getting up to his feet he stretched one last time, receiving satisfying 'pop's from his bones and releasing a tremendous yawn he walked out of his room.

"Good morning!" Kitty greeted him cheerfully from the kitchen as he stepped into her line of sight. Alex studied the image in front of him. Kitty stood in the kitchen wearing a rather dirtied apron and trying to make breakfast.

As Alex discovered a couple of years ago, he had a talent for cooking and he spent a lot of time on learning how to make his meals properly and as far as he found out from the people he cooked for, they said that what he made tasted good. When Kitsune expressed her desire to learn how to make edible food he was only willing to help her out with that. Now, as he inspected the kitchen he was pleased to find that his lessons had paid out. The kitchen was less messy than usual, when Kitty tried to make food that is, and the omelet she made actually looked appetizing.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?" he asked her as he walked closer inspecting how she worked.

"I slept well, very well in fact," she replied with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm very sure that I'm a comfortable pillow," he said with a grin. She blushed a bit and offered a sweet smile.

Alex knew that particular smile. She basically flashed that smile every time he caught her doing something wrong, often burning down the meals she made and waste expensive ingredients for them.

He wasn't going to scold her or anything, in fact, he sort of liked that and he wouldn't mind waking up like that again, though he won't admit it to her. Instead, he offered a toothy grin and waved his hand dismissively.

She smiled again, one of her eye-closing smiles and returned to her task of making a proper breakfast for them.

"Need some help?" He offered to which she shook her head. Alex nodded and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

When he came out he was pleased to find a pair of plates on the table with their breakfast on them with Kitty standing by the table an expectant expression on her face. He came closer to the table and inspected the omelets. Finding them to be looking more than fine and gave her a nod and she smiled in glee.

As they sat down in their chairs Alex got a strange feeling in the back of his head that he should expect something bad to happen. Dismissing that feeling he started eating.

* * *

"Get into position. We will be ready in a few minutes," O'Brian said through the radio to the SAT teams.

As he sat in the helicopter with Mike they flew around the area of the target's building. Andrew watched the once life-busting streets below them, hoping that everyone was evacuated from the block. Everyone now believed that a terrorist was staying at the block and he really hoped that they won't confirm what they'd said to the civilians. He didn't need bloodshed now.

"All the roads from this area are blocked by the police. I doubt they would be able to get out of here without us knowing of it," he yelled to be heard above the helicopter's rotors.

"I hope you're right about that," replied Mike as he watched the streets. "I hope we won't get the civilian involved in this in case the target will start a fight,"

"Let's hope she won't. The SAT will go in soon, and than we will have to provide them cover from here with Derrick on that roof over there," he pointed to a building that had a view of the target building and the streets around it. "Will give sniper cover in case things go bad,"

"Alright, that's good. So when do we start?" Mike asked.

"When the SAT will get here, which will be in about five minutes from now," O'Brian replied.

* * *

Finishing their late breakfast, as Alex noticed that it was the afternoon now, he had to admit that Kitty was a fast learner since the meal she made was actually good, something that he didn't forget to comment about. As the girl ate she was practically beaming as Alex literally bombarded her with compliments about the food.

They gathered all the dishes and everything else that helped in the preparations and began washing the dishes. As he scrubbed a frying pen he looked out of the window that was above the sink.

Kitty meanwhile was happily drying the plates. She was genuinely happy. All the books she was reading through about cooking and all the 'lessons' Alex put her through had just paid off. Alex thought that her food was good and for now, nothing could be better than that. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. If it would be up to her, she would stay with him forever. He was fun, he was nice, he taught her how to cook and he truly cared for her. His change in demeanor brought her out of her musing. The sudden furrowing of his brows and the full blown frown on his face told that something bothered him.

"Is something wrong? Is it the food?" she asked him worriedly but he didn't answer.

Something was wrong in what he was seeing. That Alex knew for sure. The streets were completely devoid of life, and from two years of living in this apartment he knew that by this time the streets should be bustling with life. Also the odd silence that was outside was another thing that worried him. The city was never this quiet, especially this part since the market district was close by and many people made their way to it through this district. He glanced at the neighboring building across the road, trying to see someone in the windows, but saw nothing.

The sound of a helicopter's rotor blades brought him out of his trance. The helicopter was flying awfully close and…hadn't he heard it pass by at least three times already? His eyes widened with realization. It might be paranoia, but he preferred to be a living paranoid.

Quickly walking to the closet near the entrance door he swung it open and quickly grabbed a large backpack and walked back to meet Kitsune's worried and questioning gaze.

"Put some clothes in it and everything else that you think might be important and do it as fast as you can," he said in a tone that said that she should do as he said and that something was terribly wrong.

"What's going on?" she asked him as she ran into his room.

"Don't worry yourself about this now, just do as I said, I won't let them take you," he replied but didn't answer the question, though he didn't really need to answer.

* * *

Jack was just ahead of the four members of the SAT team that accompanied him. As they quietly ran on the sidewalk, Jack was hoping he will solve this crappy situation without any bloodshed. A civilian was involved in this situation, and O'Brian specifically said that they should avoid any casualties but he feared that they would have to go through him to get to her, since he did shelter her to begin with.

They entered the apartment building and climbed up the stairs. The target lived on the third floor and they quickly climbed the needed distance and stood in front of the door, guns raised. Jack removed the safety from his MP5 and looked at the others, who gave him a nod. He nodded back, giving them the affirmative to start the operation. The last two soldiers came in front of the door, holding a small ram to break the look. With a mighty swing the ram collided with the door, shattering it open and Jack and the last pair stormed in, weapons raised.

Jack came to halt as soon as he entered and he motioned the others to do the same. In front of them was the civilian who sheltered the target. Of the target herself there was no sign at all. The civilian, who he learned was named Alex, casually leaned against the wall near the entrance, as if not concerned that five armed men just broke his door and aimed their weapons at them.

"Do you have a warrant?" he asked them calmly, giving perhaps the most unexpected question any of the men who just entered expected to hear in this situation.

* * *

"Alright, they're inside. Stand by for further instructions, if she comes out of the building without our team, fire at will but don't hit the civilian," Andrew ordered through the radio, watching, as the helicopter hovered above the building, the remaining SAT soldiers barricade the streets from both sides, all of them have a clear sight of the entrance and front windows.

O'Brian knew that he might be sending Jack to his death but Jack insisted, stating that those SAT guys were out to kill and if they wanted to capture her alive, they would accomplish it only if he would join them. Andrew had to admit, Jack had a diplomatic talent and during the years they worked together he saw Jack solve at least a dozen situations that could potentially become gruesome. Now he just needed to trust Jack and hope for the best.

* * *

Alex was bluffing, and professionally. He put on the calm façade, since it usually unnerved anyone he faced, how he knew it, he didn't have the slightest clue, it was as if it was ingrained in his brain. Right now, he was ready to run, since he knew that the pitiful five-man squad that just came in wasn't everything they brought with them. He still heard the helicopter above, and he didn't doubt that a larger greeting committee waited for them outside, maybe even snipers, who were the greatest threat. He didn't face any in his before, but he knew that he could block a bullet as long as he could see it. If he couldn't see or hear the sniper, he wouldn't see the bullet coming. Of course, he could just blindly swing his vectors in the hopes they would block it, but it will only tire him out…at least he will only feel stupid while doing that, since no one would actually see that.

"Where's the girl?" the leading man asked with a funny accent, probably American.

"What girl?" Alex replied and put on a dumbfounded expression on his face. He was just buying time, time that Kitty needed to gather everything they needed. He already gathered food supplies in a second backpack that was now lying on the kitchen table.

He wasn't really afraid, he was worried, and not for himself. He knew that he had to get away, since he didn't want to face a bloody army and he did have his vectors. He just didn't want to kill them but he knew that if it will come to blows, he could still block everything they shoot at him, short of a tank shell, and he could just punch them to unconsciousness if he had to. What he was worried about was the girl that they were after. He knew that she didn't have any worries about killing and she wouldn't hesitate to tear those men apart if they threatened her. Alex wasn't into that bloodbath thing.

"Kid, we know that she's here. Listen, we don't want anyone to get hurt so please, tell her to come out peacefully and no one will get hurt," the American man said, lowering his weapon while the rest of them still had theirs raised and pointed at the door of the last room.

"And what would you want from Kitty?" Alex asked.

"Kitty?" The soldier asked dumbly.

"The girl you are after, who else?" Alex replied, deciding that to hell with all the caution since he doubted he could fool them.

"Are you aware of how dangerous she is?"

"Are you?" he retorted. Releasing a sigh he looked at him with a pleading expression. "Listen, you know what she can do and so do I but I'm not sure I could stop her from tearing you apart if you stay so please, leave while you can. Please," he pleaded.

"You know that we can't do that. I don't want anyone to get hurt here. I'm Jack, I already know that your name is Alex, why don't you just come out with her and no one will get hurt?" Jack asked.

"You know what she will be returning to…she would prefer to die than to return there," Alex responded. Jack released a sigh and shook his head, mouthing a weak 'sorry' before motioning them to start the operation.

An armed soldier pinned Alex against the wall and he offered no resistance, since he knew that he could break free at will, he just hoped that he bought Kitty enough time.

His hopes were answered when Kitty burst out of his room and she froze in her tracks at the sight of the soldiers and one who pinned Alex to the wall. To his surprise she sent him a questioning stare to which he could only shrug. He knew that Kitsune just wondered why he allowed himself to be pinned down to a wall. Alex just presumed that one of them being targeted is enough trouble for them; they didn't need him to join her in that status.

All movement in the apartment ceased, everyone expecting the worst of this situation. Jack decided to take matters into his own heads.

"Okay, no one make any sudden moves. Listen girl, I don't want anyone to be hurt here, if you would just give up and come with us, no one will get hurt here," Jack said but Kitty didn't even acknowledge him, instead she kept staring at Alex.

"Are you ready to go?" Alex asked to which the girl nodded. "Good, don't forget to grab the backpack on the kitchen table," he added.

In the blink of an eye all hell broke loose. Jack suddenly found himself airborne and flying out of the apartment and found himself rolling down the stairs. The man who pinned Alex to the wall had the ceiling greet his head, sending cracks running along its surface. By that time, the three remaining soldiers understood what was happening and opened fire but to no avail, all the rounds were simply caught or swept aside by the Diclonius girl.

With a single swipe from a vector two of the soldiers parted with their lower torsos, much to Alex's dismay. The last one managed to jump back but he didn't come out of it unscathed. A large gaping gash appeared on his stomach, sending large drops of blood to splatter on the floor.

Crying out in pain he fell back, dropping his weapon as he did, and crashed on the table. The soldier looked at the girl with a terrified expression, seeing her slowly walk up to him, an emotionless mask on her face. Whether it was fear or the desire to not die without a fight he grabbed a hand grenade from his belt and pulled the pin but just as he did so intense pain washed over him as his hand was decapitated.

Alex felt his eyes widen to the size of plates. Sure, the vectors could protect him but they weren't exactly solid, they didn't block air so he doubted they would block a shockwave from an explosion.

"Shit!" he mouthed and sent a pair of vectors, one for the food backpack and one for Kitty before breaking into a mad sprint.

* * *

With a loud 'boom' all the windows in the target's apartment were shattered and glass showered the streets below. In that instance, all the men who stood in the street raised their weapons and prepared for the worst.

"What the fuck is going on there?" O'Brian shouted, not expecting anyone to answer him. "Jack, do you copy? What's going on there?" he shouted into the radio device. When he received no reply he understood that something bad must've happened. He hoped that Jack came out of it alive.

Everyone aimed their eyes and weapons on the building entrance and at the broken windows which had small wisps of smoke rising out of them. Then, before anyone could react, a pair of figures rushed out of the door: a young man pulling a young woman by her hand after him.

As one, everyone opened fire, sending a shower of bullets on the pair. The projectiles though, simply bounced off before any of them even made it to their targets.

"Aim at the girl! Aim at the girl! Don't shoot the civilian!" O'Brian yelled, realizing that he won't be able to stop them from shooting now. Somewhere in the back of his head he noted that the girl was shielding the civilian.

The pair kept running, seemingly ignoring the usually dangerous projectiles that kept blazing through the air, and ran into a near by alley, which was blocked by a pair of soldiers. Like they weighted nothing, the soldiers were swept aside, flying into the air and came to a landing around twenty feet away from them.

"Fuck! Go after them!" Andrew ordered the pilot. "Derrick! Get ready to take a shot if you can," he ordered him through the radio.

* * *

"Run, run, run, run, run," Alex kept saying as they ran through the alley, tugging Kitty along with him.

He sort of expected Kitsune to stop running and slaughter every last soldier that attacked them but he preferred the alternative: running like hell. All the while he heard the already familiar sound of the helicopter above them, following them from a safe distance. Alex wasn't really sure, but he did notice more than a few bullets that were aimed at him so he couldn't be sure if he now shared Kitty's status as a target now.

Running out of the alley into another street they were greeted by more soldiers and gunfire. Trying his best to not get too distracted by the projectiles as he blocked them he saw Kitty effortlessly lift a parked car with the help of her vectors and launch it at several soldiers. The car, flying in amazing speeds crushed the soldiers and left them in broken heaps.

He came to a sudden stop as something zipped past his head, right in front of his eyes, and crashed into the concrete to his side, leaving a small crater. He did the simply math and came to a conclusion.

"Fuck! Snipers," he hissed as he added more speed to his dash, almost dragging Kitty after him with surprising strength.

Kitty to his surprise lifted another car and held it at their side, providing them cover. Thundering pops were heard as bullets pounded the car, with the occasional round, that he suspected was coming from a high caliber sniper rifle piercing through the car.

"Good thinking," he muttered as they ran into another alley, Kitty dragging the car behind her.

Continuing to run through the alleys, Kitsune dragging the car after them for some reason, Alex decided that they will stay away from any streets, thinking they would have better chances of losing them if they continued to run through the alleys. The sound of rotor blades shattered his plans and he cursed under his breath. Blocking several rounds that were aimed at Kitty's head he looked up, seeing a pair of shooters.

Feeling Kitty coming to a sudden halt he stopped as well and saw her looking up, a challenging look in her eyes. The shooters released a clip into her, which she blocked like it was nothing. Then, Alex saw a smile appear on her face, not the nice and lovely smile that he saw and liked when she lived that week with him, but a sadistic smile. For a second, he didn't see his Kitty standing there in front of him. He stopped at that remark, _his_ Kitty. Putting it aside he called to her, urging her to keep running.

But if she heard him, she must've ignored him since she stood her ground, allowing the shooters to waste their ammo. Alex knew that if she would keep standing there the other soldiers will catch up with them.

"My turn," Kitty said loud enough for Alex to hear her.

Like a freakish missile, she launched the car at the helicopter. The hovering vehicle tried to veer away, partially succeeding in its task. The turned-missile car crashed through the helicopter's tail, sending the flying vehicle into an uncontrolled spin.

"Nice throw…" Alex muttered as the girl turned to him with a beaming smile on her face. "Let's just get away from here, please," he said, to which she nodded.

* * *

"Fuuuck!" O'Brian heard Mike shout as the helicopter kept spinning uncontrollably. He and Mike kept holding everything they could for dear life for the fear of dropping down from it. He felt like he would lose the meager breakfast that he ate.

Then, all of a sudden he felt the hellish experience suddenly stop with a loud sound of breaking metal and he felt his head hit something hard. His vision swimming he could barely make out Mike in front of him, but he saw that he was unmoving. The sergeant sluggishly got up to his feet, using whatever he could for support. He staggered out of the helicopter, or what once was a helicopter. With his vision slowly returning to normal, and the lessening difficulty of moving he checked the pilot, finding him alive, shaken but alive. Mike was seemingly unconscious from the crash.

"_Andrew…'tis me, Jack,"_ Jack said through the radio.

"Jack? You okay there?" he replied with a smile. Despite of the situation he was glad to find out that Jack was in one piece, literally.

"_I'm fine,__ some of the idiots decided to use a hand grenade, how about you? I don't see your chopper anymore, what happened?"_

"We… we crashed. The girl through a car at us, we're now at…" he paused to look at his surroundings. "Some street, everyone alive but I think Mike will need some medical attention," he replied, looking at the streets around them, hoping that someone noticed them going down and would come to check on them.

"_Good…__good, I'll find you in a few minutes."_

"Fuck, why did this have to go wrong like this?" Andrew nearly screamed out in frustration.

Not only did at least a dozen of men were dead, he had a lot of damaged property, excluding the chopper, and _he_ had to explain how this happened. He now had a couple of thousand civilians who believed that there was a terrorist in hiding here. Now all they will see is a war-struck neighborhood with no captured or killed terrorists. Of course, he could lie, and he probably will but he wouldn't be able to vanish away the property damage. And worst of all he would have to somehow explain this to his employer.

* * *

His lungs were aching, he could barely breathe normally and he knew that the girl behind him had it worse than him. She was locked away and stuck in one place for most of her life and didn't get proper physical exercise so her stamina was in the gutters. Considering they were running without a stop for several minutes now he was actually amazed that she lasted this long.

"A-alex, p-please stop, can't b-breathe," she panted.

Alex came to halt and Kitsune collapsed against the wall, breathing heavily. During the last few minutes, after Kitty took down the helicopter they continued running without a stopping once and the fatigue began catching up with them. During that time the military presence was significantly reduced though only replaced by the police, who were less dangerous to them.

He looked at the girl near him. Kitsune was sitting on the dirty ground, her clothes dirtied by a couple of droplets of blood that she got from the one's she killed back in his apartment. He noticed the sweat that was on her face and the way she was breathing and he knew that she wouldn't be able to run at the same speed again, he doubted she could even run now.

Alex walked up to her and crouched near her. She looked at him curiously, wondering why he was looking at her that way. Kitty then released a yelp as she felt his hands wrap around her, one over her shoulder and one beneath her knees. Alex picked her up, bridal style, and he broke into a run. She wasn't that heavy, actually but he was tired. Luckily for him he still had his vectors and he didn't need physical strength for that so he used a pair of vectors to aid his tired arms.

Stopping near the end of the alley they now ran through he looked to the sides he spotted a problem. They just ran out of alleys. In front of them were dozens of trees, a park. They had a good chance of get into hiding from there, if not only for the police that patrolled the street that stood between them.

He managed to count six police officers in the vicinity and there was the possibility that more of them stood outside of his line of sight. He somehow had to pass the street without any of them noticing them. Luckily, he had a plan though he wasn't sure if it will work, since he never tried it.

He took a few steps back, to get enough room to get momentum and told the girl in his arms to hold on tight. Feeling her arms wrap around his neck he broke into a run, releasing six of his vectors as he ran. Using them to push himself of the ground with all the strength he could muster he flew into the air. Kitty felt her stomach sink lower into her body as gravity suddenly fought to keep them on the ground. Seeing that they were about fifty feet in the air she tightened her grip on his neck. She idly wondered how he could have six vectors all of a sudden when he usually used two or one most of the time.

Seeing the trees coming to greet them she yelped as they broke through the branches and twigs only to land softly on the ground.

Brushing the various twigs and leaves from his clothes and some from Kitsune's hair with his vectors he started running again, putting as much distance as he could between themselves and his now ruined apartment.

"You know…I can run again," Kitty said after a few moments. Coming to halt, he gently put the girl down to her own feet and he leaned against a tree, breathing heavily.

Alex felt the familiar pressure in the front of his head; he guessed it was his pineal gland. He was sure that he will have quite a headache for about an hour at most. Alex knew the price he had to pay for using more than two vectors, and at that strength.

"Okay, let's take a break here. I think we're far enough to take a rest," he panted. He was truly exhausted, that he knew for sure. She took a seat against the tree in front of him

"What are we going to do now?" Kitsune asked him sadly. She felt guilty, that she knew and it was an unfamiliar feeling for her. Because of her, her best friend was now homeless with her, and probably hunted along with her.

"I…I don't know," he said softly. They kept looking at each other for a few minutes, none of them saying anything.

They were screwed. They had nowhere to go and the whole city was probably looking for them now and more importantly, they had nowhere to hide! He doubted they could go to Jirou, since if they knew how to find him there was a chance that they knew about Jirou as well. He tried thinking of a place they could stay at, without any chances of anyone finding them. Where could a runaway Diclonius hide? The only case he knew about is…

His eyes widened with that thought.

"Two years ago…" he whispered under his breath, which Kitty heard and turned to him with a questioning look.

Two years ago! He knew about a Diclonius who escaped and she lived rather peacefully for two years now. Not only that, but she had another Diclonius living with her in the same house! No one found them yet and he doubted anyone will find them anytime soon since the fact that she still lived in the same place after two years was enough proof for him. In the past he considered the idea of visiting them, to interact with someone of his kind, to see what they were like, if they were the monsters the researchers in the institute but for some reason, he never had enough courage or a good enough reason to visit him. Who knew, maybe she would've tore him apart if he would've shown his face. He knew what she did to the people who chased her at that time and he wouldn't be surprised if she did kill him but…well, they didn't have much choice now and they didn't have anything to lose. He stood up and offered his hand to the Kitty.

"Where are we going?" she asked him as she accepted his hand. To her surprise Alex chuckled.

"Let's just say that we're going to visit some of our distant cousins," he answered with a wide grin.

* * *

**Heheh, well, I had much fun writing this, even if it was a bit difficult. Also, I think I shouldn't even try to explain just who they are going to visit now, its pretty obvious. I'll enjoy writing the next chapter as well, since I was quite looking forward to this. Once again, thank you for reading this story. You are very welcome to leave constructive criticism, ideas, suggestions or anything else, I'm accepting almost everything. Thanks you again! Until next week, hopefully I'll be able to update it by then. 'Till next time, Del.**


	7. First encounter

**A/N: Hello again! Wow, i updated it _much_ faster than i planned but it's not that bad! You get the chapter faster and i enjoy writing it. Okay, the expected chapter is finally here so now, enjoy reading this!**

* * *

"**We bring you this report from Kamakura, where the local police reports that a group of terrorists took hiding in one of the apartments in this area. The neighbors of this area have said that they were evacuated earlier this day by armed special assault teams and later gunfire could be heard across the section. Reports indicate that there were casualties in the police's attempts of capturing the terrorists but so far the numbers are unknown and witnesses say that a helicopter has crashed in one of the streets…**" said the reporter.

Jirou halfheartedly listened to the TV. Inspecting how the other worked, more importantly if they were working instead of watching the news. Taking a sip from his coffee cup he was preparing to return to his office when one of the workers called out to him, pointing at the TV. Taking a look he saw something he didn't expect to see at all.

"**This is the house that the terrorists took refuge at and as you see it looks like some explosive device was detonated and caused damage to the apartment as you can see there…"** she pointed to the familiar apartment windows where smoke billowed out from a small fire. Jirou spat out his coffee in a miniature geyser from his mouth at the sight in front of him. **"…Police have cordoned the area but so far there is no sign from the terrorists so it's entirely possible that they escaped from the area so we advice everyone in Kamakura to be careful when walking outside, avoid crowded places and call the police if you see any kind of suspicious acts or persons. Police are looking for a pair of suspects, a male and a female around twenty years of age…" **Jirou stopped listening by that moment. Silently he left to his office all the while wishing he would've bought Alex a cell phone. He needed to do a couple of phone calls.

* * *

They were close, he knew that for sure. It was barely there but he could sense them and he knew that Kitty could sense them as well, though it didn't seem that she cared at all about it. While they couldn't sense him for some odd reason, maybe due to him not being a full Diclonius, they could still sense Kitty so it was impossible to approach without them knowing of their presence, unless they wouldn't care.

Kitty was absorbed in thought, which Alex saw easily. She barely talked or did anything other than following the young man's orders. What worried him more was her expression. It seemed that she was really worried and, for some reason, greatly sad. He could understand that of course, he was worried as well. By now half of the city was probably looking out for them and the police wouldn't hesitate alerting the institute and it wouldn't be long after that that they would have to face more SAT soldiers and it didn't help that they left a freaking warzone in their wake so it was entirely safe to presume that the civilian population would shit their pants if they will find out that they caused it. Alex was also a bit sad as well, then again he guessed that everyone would be sad if they saw their home get blown up but Kitty seemed to take it harder than him.

They now sat in a secluded alley, stopping for a break and a quick snack. Drinking water from a bottle he kept himself aware of his surroundings, just in case someone might wander into their alley. He felt a bit regretful about the soldiers Kitty had killed since now they just gave them more reason to capture them, or more importantly Kitty since he wasn't sure if they were aware of his Diclonius abilities.

"You didn't have to kill them you know…" he mumbled. When he didn't receive a reply he looked at her, seeing her looking down at the floor.

"Now they will want to capture you even more. They won't leave us alone if we show them that we are what they think we are," he continued. "Just…try to be more careful next time, if there would be next time. Punch them or something, but don't kill them, okay?"

The girl still didn't reply, in fact Alex wasn't sure if she was even listening. He placed a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to look up at him and when he did he saw that she was on the verge of tears.

"Ah…are you okay?" he asked her, slightly worried at seeing her like this. He knew for sure that she wasn't really regretful about killing them, not all Diclonius actually felt that regret. Alex knew quite a lot about Diclonius, his 'caretaker' back in the institute was rather nice and he never expressed any hesitance at answering Alex' questions and through their many conversations he learned quite a bit about his newly found race. Not many of his race ever expressed regret about killing someone since for many killing was instinct and nothing special, or at least that's what he was told. If this wasn't regret over killing, something else must've been bothering her.

Kitty was baffled to say the least. She felt horrible at the moment, horrible that because of her Alex didn't have a home and he was targeted for capturing along with her. She felt horrible because she was _happy_ about it, happy because she was no longer alone in this and had someone to support her. She admired him greatly, and that admiration only grew in size in the last hours. He picked her up from the streets, with noting to gain but a lot to lose. He helped her out, fed her, bought her clothes and offered her refuge and how she repaid him? She repaid him by having his house blown up and both of them ending up in the streets. And how did he react to this? He didn't! The guy didn't even seem phased about it at all! He didn't seem sad about the loss of his house or finding himself in the streets again or that he even cared about the soldiers that will probably try to capture him again. Instead, here he was, looking at her with concern and asking her if she was okay. She couldn't understand why after all that happened because of her he was still here with her and showing his concern for her. She couldn't take this anymore.

Alex suddenly found himself in an awkward embrace when Kitty all of a sudden jumped on him and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. He carefully hugged her back, not sure what to make of this sudden development.

"I'm sorry," she said weakly and Alex felt something wet on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry…"

"Are…are you crying?" he asked, moving her so he could look at her face. Seeing her tear-stricken face he frowned. "Don't cry, just…don't cry, please," he pleaded, wiping a tear and not being sure of what to make of it. He wasn't sure how to deal with a crying girl. "And what are you sorry about?"

"It's all my fault… because of me that all this happened, I'm so sorry," she said softly, looking at him with pleading eyes.

"Hey, you don't have anything to apologize about. My life was rather boring anyway and I was sure that I wouldn't be able to hide forever. I hate boredom and you make my life more interesting," he said with a grin. "So you don't have anything to be sorry about,"

Kitty looked at him in amazement. She couldn't believe that he will take everything that happened with stride, heck, from what she saw he didn't give a damn about it! She kept looking at him, staring at the young man in front of her, wondering what she did to deserve this kind of a blessing. Alex really was a blessing for her. From what she could see, he supported her and will stay with her even after all that happened.

"We should go now," he said softly, pulling out his, now Kitty's, black beanie hat and gave it to her to wear. "We will be there soon,"

* * *

O'Brian was sitting in another helicopter with his team. The expressions on their faces were completely different from each other but all of them felt the same. Andrew's face showed his frustration over their failure. Mike's face, which was partially hidden beneath the bandages that were wrapped around his head, showed that he was royally pissed, Jack wore a frown on his face and Derrick had annoyance written all over his face. The operation was a complete failure and all of them knew that.

Other than a damaged apartment, damaged streets and a wrecked chopper they hadn't accomplished anything else. Now they will have to explain this mess to the director who hired him, and the chances that he will be happy about it were thin as ice, maybe even thinner. Kakuzawa was a nasty man, that O'Brian knew and for some unknown reason it seemed impossible for the man to at least try to be likable. Maybe it was that arrogant and obnoxious smile he always wore, that said that the man who wore it thought that he was above everyone else. Or maybe it was that look he had in his eyes, a look that didn't promise anything good. Andrew didn't like the director and he was sure that his team shared similar thoughts. At least he paid well though he couldn't understand why he decided to hire foreign mercenaries, though he did remember the director saying something about having problem getting competent employees.

Suppressing a groan he just wanted the vehicle to get to the institute so they could get over with the mess they gotten themselves into.

* * *

Nana widened her eyes as something, she wasn't sure how to describe it but knew what it was, appeared on the edge of her senses, as if something was nudging at her brain. She concentrated on the feeling, hoping that she was just sensing the other Diclonius habitant of the house but her hopes proved to be futile. It was another one, further away from the house.

Turning away from the television, which was showing footage of some chaos from the other side of town, she stood up from the floor and headed for the kitchen, not answering Mayu's questioning gaze. Entering the kitchen she saw her target, a young woman in her early twenties standing above the kitchen counter chopping vegetables. Nana walked near her and looked at her with worry.

"Kaede…" Nana said softly. The woman that was once known as Lucy looked down at her. Nana looked at her nervously. Nana still felt unease around the woman who once caused her great pain, even after two years of living together she still couldn't get over that feeling, but she made progress and so did Kaede.

"I know," she replied. "Tell Mayu to stay at the house, they will be here soon,"

Nana nodded and left the kitchen. She knew that if it will come to fighting, something that she wished wouldn't happen; Kaede will know what to do. Even though she hasn't fought in two years, she knew that Kaede was still a lot more powerful than her and more effective in battle, even with her shorter range.

"Mayu…can you please stay in the house?" she asked the girl who was her sister, though not by blood. Mayu looked at her questionably though something in the way Nana looked at her told her that it was important. She nodded and left to her room, leaving Nana in the living room. The young Diclonius sighed in relief and prayed to whatever gods there might be there that there wont be a fight.

* * *

"Okay, why do I get the feeling that we just jumped from the frying pen into the fire?" Alex asked no one in particular. "It's a saying," he explained when he noticed Kitty's questioning stare.

"I know what you mean," she replied. "I was wondering why are we going there, I feel two of them… they're very close,"

"That's because they are living here for two years already, rather peacefully I must add,"

"Two years?"

"Yeah, two years ago one of them escaped, caused a lot of chaos here afterwards when they tried recapturing her. I don't know where the second one showed up from but in the end they ended up living here with a family of humans,"

"And how do you know about it?" she asked, causing him to chuckle.

"I have a curious nature. I've been living here by that time and I was genuinely curious about what the hell was going on here,"

"Why didn't you help her at that time?" she asked and Alex didn't fail to notice a small frown on her face.

"Because she was already being taken care of and because I was really scared of her,"

"Scared?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I saw how she killed like, with no emotion, as if she was doing something as simple as picking something up. That scared me. The other one was more…I don't know, she was a lot different in my opinion but she stayed with the same family so my services were not needed," he explained with a chuckle.

"So…why did you pick me up? I killed too," she asked softly.

"You're different. I saw you kill, as much as I don't like you killing anything but you kill with emotion and it's better than what I saw back then…"

"So are you looking forward to seeing her again?"

"Looking forward? Honestly I would prefer never meeting her again, I'm still a bit scared of her but then again, what choice do we have? It's not like we have anywhere better to go,"

The street was empty, luckily for them, and it was the quiet part of the city so there weren't many people outside. Right now they were walking down a small street chatting idly and the people who did see them didn't really put much attention to them. Alex still glanced to the sides from time to time and they hid with every hint of police activity near them but they were mostly safe for now since they were searched in the other side of the city anyway.

"Okay, were almost there," he mumbled, feeling a bit anxious about the inevitable meeting. "Just one more thing," he added and paused in his steps. Kitty looked at him curiously, wondering what he was thinking about.

"If this goes bad, don't fight," he said grimly.

"What?"

"Just…protect yourself, but don't fight," he repeated and offered a smile. "Trust me," Kitty considered what he said and eventually nodded and Alex resumed walking.

Walking ahead they entered a small side street with a large building, with old architecture. He stopped in front of the door, Kitty coming to a halt at his side, sending him a glance, which he returned with a nod, he knocked on the door.

A minute passed, then another and Alex was beginning to feel anxious. Knocking again he waited for an answer but none came. He could sense them, they were inside but for some reason they didn't answer.

He knocked a little harder, making sure that they will hear it this time. Thinking that they would open the door for sure this time he was disappointed to find that no one inside reacted to his knocking.

Looking back at Kitty, who shrugged, he placed his hand on the door handle. "I guess they want us to come in…" he mumbled and opened the door.

They walked through the open door and stopped once they were inside. The building itself was quite beautiful but the gardens around it were even more beautiful. The trees and bushes around the house were a lovely view and the flowers that grew here and there only enhanced the beauty but what stopped them wasn't the beauty of the place.

In front of them stood a young woman, appearing to be in her early twenties. Her pinkish hair, only a bit brighter than Kitty's was down to her shoulders, beautifully framing her face. She wore a simple white gown which framed her curves in a very appealing way. Alex noted the absence of horns on her head but it wasn't what worried him. He would've thought that the woman in front of him was very beautiful if she would've smiled but instead a cold, calculating and emotionless stare greeted him.

"Leave," she said coldly. "Now,"

The way she said that made a shiver go down his spine. Kitty stepped a bit closer to him and Alex swallowed a lump in his throat, preparing to speak.

"Uhh, did you stand here and waited all this time for us to enter?" he said, hoping that his attempt to lighten the mood would succeed. To his surprise she smirked, a good sign in his opinion.

He was preparing to continue when he found himself being shoved backwards and he spotted the vector that shoved him.

'She's fast!' he thought in amazement. He hadn't even noticed it coming. Never before he had seen someone use vectors this fast, then again it wasn't like he ever fought another Diclonius... Then he saw how another vector shot in an arc right into Kitty's right side.

She yelped in pain as she flew from the blow, landing several feet away. At that Alex saw red. Who did she think she was? She attacked them for no apparent reason! Yes, she might call it trespassing but they didn't even mean any harm on them! He might've forgiven her if she punched him like that, he did deserve to be punched several times for some shit he did in the past but Kitty didn't deserve it. She lived through enough shit as it is.

The woman who stood above Kitty, her four vectors like coiled snakes swirling around her, ready to strike. She didn't consider him as a threat, which slightly annoyed him but it was only better for him.

Sending a single vector he quickly grabbed her by the neck and slammed her back against the stone wall. She gasped in pain in the air was blasted out of her lungs be she quickly countered by sending all her vectors to the direction the attack came from but to her surprise, four vectors met them, grabbing them before she could react. Pinned against the wall with her vectors captured she looked at her captor and was quite surprised to find the young man standing near the girl she knocked out.

"You okay?" he asked Kitty. She nodded and got up, one hand rubbing her aching ribs. Alex then turned to face his attacker.

Lucy had to wonder what just happened. She had sense only one Diclonius arriving but here she was, pinned against the wall with one, and a male one, something she wasn't sure even existed. The cold look and sheer killing intent she received from him almost made her have second thoughts for a second but what really worried her was his look. it was a cold stare, with a worrying lack of emotion in it and something in it promised her a lot of pain.

"You punched me; I'm okay with that, I did sort of deserve it. I didn't come here to look for a fight but if you hurt her again, I promise you that I will stop being nice and you will pay for it…" he said coldly. "Now, before you attacked us-" he started but he was interrupted by something hard slamming into the side of his head and he felt himself collide head first into the wall he pinned Lucy against.

Nana breathed a sigh of relief. Kaede told her to stay inside, stating that she will take care of everything but Nana got worried and she was correct. When she walked outside she was surprised to find Kaede being held against the wall by some guy who had vectors, which baffled her since she clearly saw the Diclonius standing near him but she didn't sense anything from him, and she decided to interfere before things will get bloody. She just punched him in the head but she felt that she hit him too hard and added that he flew into the wall head first she feared that she actually killed him.

"FUCK! Don't they teach you in this house how to say a fucking 'Hello'?" he nearly screamed. Nana nearly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the young man stand up.

Alex looked angrily at the new addition to the madhouse that was this so called battle. He spotted a girl which looked like she was around sixteen, her short hair, which was a darker version of Kitty's pinkish hair, and she wore a simple white T-shit and blue shorts. Nana swallowed the lump in her throat when she spotted his angry glare and the bright line of red that trickled down his face from a gash on his forehead. Alex raised his hand when he felt something wet on his face and he trailed a finger against it and looked to see blood on his finger.

"What the fuck is wrong with you people? I expected you to be a little paranoid but I was expecting to at least get a 'Hi' instead of a fucking punch to the face!" he growled as he went to sit against the wall he crashed into, the headache he was getting now made him feel unsafe on his feet. Before he sat he saw Kaede, who stood battle ready, waiting for him. "Oh, screw you!" he shouted and sat against the wall.

Kaede looked in bewilderment at their 'guest', never before she was so casually…dismissed. She silently watched as his companion moved to him, looking at his wound.

"I mean, it's not that hard to say it! It's just a single word after all…" Alex said, more calmly now.

"What's going on?" said a new voice. Everyone, including the guests, turned to see a young man in his twenties with brown hair, wearing jeans and a grey T-shirt.

"Kohta…" Kaede mumbled as she looked at him, dismissing her vectors, something that Alex was thankful to see. Kohta walked closer, looking at the newcomers, one of whom was bleeding.

"Uh, hello, who are you?" he asked.

"Finally! Someone in this house who actually has _manners_!" Alex happily exclaimed, sending a glare at Nana who had the decency to look embarrassed. "No wonders you don't get any customers with such a way to greet newcomers," he said as he stood up. He spun a bit as he stood to his full height and Kitty grabbed him to offer him some support.

"Customers?" Kohta asked curiously, not fully understanding what this guy wanted.

"Well, this is an inn, isn't it?" Alex asked.

"Ah, well, not really. It was an inn once,"

"Oh, well can you allow us to stay for a while? I think its only place that would be safe for someone like us," Alex asked, offering a smile. "I can pay the rent," he added but he noticed Kohta furrowing his brow.

"'like us'? What do you mean by that?" he inquired.

"You know, people with horns, invisible arms and all that stuff? I mean, you have a couple of them living here for two years now and the fact that they're still here means it's safe," Alex explained. Kohta's face hardened at that, something which Alex didn't fail to notice. "So can we stay, please? I'll pay and it won't be for very long,"

"Why did you come here?" Kohta asked. He couldn't really understand why he seemed to draw these horned girls and now another one, with this guy came to ask for refuge. Right now, he wanted answers.

"Dude, I had a shitty day. My house got blown up, I've been shot at, I've ran a couple of miles without stopping, I got punched a couple of times instead of getting a simple hello and I have a bloody hole in my head which doesn't really help my already existing mother of all headaches," Alex explained and released a sigh, "Maybe later, like after I close this hole?" he asked, pointing to his still bleeding head wound.

"Oh, okay. How did you get this wound anyway?" Kohta asked, curious and hoping Kaede didn't cause this.

"From your overly violent girls of course! The kid punched me, sending my face into the wall and this chick nearly broke my friend's ribs," he said, sending glares at the two girls. "Really, do they greet every person like this?"

"Uh, no, not that I know of," Kohta answered, slightly embarrassed over their behavior. "Come in; ill show you your room. I'll call you for dinner later and I will get you some bandages for this wound," Kohta said and motioned them to follow. "I'm Kohta by the way," he added.

"Oh yeah, I'm Alex and this is Kitty, nice to meet you," Alex responded and Kitty offered him a nod, still looking nervously at the older Diclonius.

Nana approached the new comers, offering the young man an embarrassed smile. "Sorry I hurt you, I'm Nana," she said with a bow.

"Nice to meet you Nana, I hope you wont punch me again, that kind of hurt," Alex said with a chuckle.

Without saying a word Kaede simply left and vanished in the depths of the house.

"That's Lucy, don't mind her, she's not always like that," Kohta said quietly as he watched her leave. He then motioned them to follow.

"I hope not, no offense but she acted like a bitch," Alex muttered.

"She didn't have an easy life, just let her get used to you," Kohta said sadly but to his surprise Alex chuckled.

"Yeah, I know where she's coming from, none of us had it easy," he said with a smile as they entered the house. The house was mostly not that bad inside and it was very clean, Alex guessed that they spent quite a while taking care of the place. "So how is it, living with so many girls in one house? I bet it's quite awkward…" he said with a grin. Kitty raised an eyebrow at his remark. What did he mean by that?

"Not really, but there are moments," Kohta answered with a laugh.

After that they continued in silence. Climbing the stairs to the second floor he led them to a room. Opening the door they saw a small room with a pair of futons and a small closet for some clothes.

"Okay, this is your room, ill get the first aid kit now, meanwhile sit down," Kohta instructed and left the room.

Alex nearly collapsed on his futon when Kitty released him and he sighed in relief. He couldn't believe how bad this encounter went! He got punched, twice, and he had a close encounter with a stone wall. Kitty nearly had her ribs broken. At least this Kohta guy had some sense and they managed to get to an agreement. He had several thousand yen in his backpack; he guessed it would be enough to stay here for a while and they wouldn't have to worry about food for a while as well.

"Kitty, can you raise your shirt?" Alex asked, interested in seeing the damage done to Kitty. He guessed he should be thankful that this Kaede hadn't simply decided to cut them to pieces when she could. He noticed that Kitty's face was bit redder than he remembered but she complied and removed her shirt, leaving herself only in her bra. He wondered why she did that when he only asked her to raise it a bit but then he noticed the bruise and he hissed in pain, imagining how painful it was. It was a black and purple bruise, almost as large as his fist. He gently trailed his fingers on it, prompting a hiss of pain from the girl. Mumbling a quick 'sorry' he continued to feel the bruise, apologizing each time the girl hissed in pain.

"Well, I don't think there are any broken bones, I'm not a doctor," he said as he watched her. "In other words, you'll live,"

Kitty remained silent as she watched him. There he went again with this! She eyed his head wound, noticing that it was still bleeding, though not as badly as before but it still looked nasty and here he was, worried about her! She didn't really know what to feel about this, whether to be mad about it or feel flattered, but she was sure she could feel both of them.

"You should worry about yourself, you know. This wound looks bad," she said with a sympathetic look.

"Nah, it's not that bad, I've had worse! I'm more worried about your bruise anyway, broken ribs are not fun," he remarked.

Now she was annoyed. It seemed like he didn't even care about his own injuries! Though she still felt flattered about it she didn't want him to bleed to death or anything or ignore his own injuries when his were more severe. She also could get out of her mind the fact that he threatened Kaede for her. For some reason it made her feel…special. He admitted that he was intimidated by that girl in the past and she did understand why he was intimidated. She surely had that effect on people.

"Well, that certainly went well, didn't it?" he asked his with a laugh.

"I don't see what's so funny about this. We were beaten up, and you don't look so good,"

"Nah, that's from using too many vectors, can't help it if a pair is simply not enough, but no worries, ill be fine in an hour or so," he said with a smile. Kitty couldn't help but smile back.

The door slid open and Kohta entered, carrying a small box with him. He took note of Kitty, who still stood in her bra, seemingly uncaring that a stranger was seeing her half naked and then he noticed the bruise. He looked it over, managing to not look anywhere but the bruise and quickly averted his eyes.

"You should want to treat that too," he remarked and Kitty rolled her eyes at it. Kohta handed the box to Alex. "You will find a disinfectant and bandages in there and something for that bruise,"

"I really hope you have some painkillers there, I have a serious headache," Alex said as he dug into the box, taking out the necessary things he will need to treat his and Kitty's wounds.

"Alright, if you don't need me right now I'll be downstairs. I'll call you for dinner later so you could meet the others and I'll want an explanation later if you could give me one," Kohta said.

"Okay, I guess I will see you later," Alex replied as he opened a package of bandages. Kohta nodded and silently left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Others?" Kitty asked with a look at Alex, who was opening the bottle of disinfectant. The young man shrugged in response and motioned to her that he needed some help.

She quickly came over to him to offer him his help, hoping that the others would be more accepting than the two Diclonius girls that lived here. Okay, maybe that Nana girl wasn't that bad, she actually seemed a bit nice but Kaede was a different story.

Kitty had to wonder what kind of a mess has Alex got them into.

* * *

**Okay, this is finished for now and it was rather fun writing this though i feel that i didnt do justice to the original characters so i'm not sure about this but i am sure that i will try a lot harder next chapter. What did you think about this?. I always welcome constructive criticism and opinions and suggestions! Thank you for reading this, the next chapter will be out soon!**


	8. Dinners and questions

**A/N: Okay, it's me again! Woah, I'm updating this _much_ faster than i expected, which is not a bad thing actually. This chapter is shorter that the last two but its not that bad either. Also, i think you should say congratulations becayse today is my B-day! Yeah, i update my story at my birthday, how awesome is that? Anyway, enjoy this chapter!**  


* * *

He was not giving up; he didn't know the meaning of those words. Continuing to dig through the backpack he refused to believe that the only clothes Kitty grabbed for him were a pair of socks and a pair of boxer underwear.

"How do I look?" she asked and Alex looked at her. She now wore a pink knee-length skirt and a white T-shirt.

"I still don't get why you try so hard," he asked. She was changing her clothes for the past hour and always asked for his opinion.

"One thing that I remember before I was captured, my mother used to say that, is that 'first impressions are often most important',"

"I think it's a bit too late for that. Our first impression was that we are easily bruised…"

"Oh stop being like that, at least try to make yourself look good,"

"Oh, I'm sorry but I think that the only clothes I have are these…" he said as he threw the bag into the corner of the room. "And don't I already look good enough?"

"I already said I'm sorry! I was in a hurry and I didn't have time to grab all your clothes," she pleaded. Alex sent a glance and the small pile of clothes that lied on her bed. It was basically a small mountain, how she fit so many into the bag was beyond him.

"Nah, don't worry about it. I still have these ones," he said as he tugged on his shirt. "I don't think they will say something about my looks, other than me looking like someone who ran away from the hospital…" he added, pointing a finger to his head, indicating the bandages that were wrapped around it, a small red stain on it.

"Well, do as you wish, just remember my words," she said as she turned away, looking over at herself in front of the mirror. A few minutes of silence passed between them until Alex decided to break the silence.

"You never talked about your mother…" she turned back to him at those words, a thoughtful look on her face.

"I don't really remember her anyway, can't even recall her face. I just remember I had her and that she was nice…" she said sadly. "How about you?" she asked. She was genuinely curious about him. He never talked about anything in his life before his escape from the institute.

"I don't think I ever had one…I mean, ever since I remember myself I was in the institute, so I guess I was either born there or brought there as a baby," he said softly, a distant look in his eyes. "The closest thing I had to a parent was my caretaker there,"

"Caretaker?"

"You know, one those scientists that always comes to check up on me? One of those guys… he was nice, in a weird way,"

Kitty guessed that she was lucky in some way. She had a mother; she remembered the feeling of having a loving parent. That was the only thing she remembered of her mother, she guessed it was buried beneath those years of torture in the institute. She had something while Alex didn't have anything before he escaped. When she thought about it, it was kind of sad…

"Okay, enough of that sappy stuff. Just pick out your outfit before they will call us,"

"Sure, I think I'll wear this one,"

"Don't think, decide," he said with a smile.

* * *

This sucked. This day was officially the worst day in O'Brian's career in Japan. Kakuzawa didn't exactly yell at them or something of the likes. No, he spoke calmly and slowly, in a disappointed tone, all the while having this superior look in his eyes. By now Andrew was beginning to hate his boss.

"God, I think I hate this guy," Mike voiced his thoughts, prompting a smile from the Sergeant. "I prefer the classical 'yelling their lungs out' boss type,"

"So what are we doing now?" Jack asked. "Shouldn't we go after them?"

"You heard the man; we get a day rest and tomorrow we go out with his little 'gift' he planned on giving us, whatever that means. I think you and Mike should stay in the infirmary,"

"What? No need for that man, I'm perfectly fine," Mike protested.

"I wasn't hurt at all. I was outside of the blast radius so nothing' happened to me," Jack explained.

"Mike you go to the infirmary. I don't need a brain-damaged soldier in my ranks," O'Brian ordered with a look at Mike's bandaged head.

"Then why was he here in the first place?" Derrick asked, followed by a chorus of laughs.

"Assholes. Fine, ill go there but I feel perfectly fine," Mike muttered as he left them, heading to the medical wing, for humans, of the complex.

"So, what do you think?" Jack asked.

"Think about what?" Andrew shot back.

"About the kid with the girl. What do you think about that?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen him from up close. I should be the one asking you,"

"The kid is skilled, in some way. I missed the first shot and he spotted me right away," Derrick added. "After that, the girl used a car as cover,"

"Yeah, the kid is weird for sure. I mean, when we got in he was waiting for us, which means he knew we were coming. He also didn't seem too worried about the girl being a Diclonius. He told me he knew about her powers," Jack added his opinion.

"Well, I think we will find out when we will find the girl. He will probably be with her when we find her. The city is on a lockdown, we have eyes in every road, train station and every other way of getting out of the city. There's no way they will be able to get out of here," O'Brian said. "Right now, we should rest. Tomorrow the director will give us some support as he said,"

"Roger that. Let's get some rest," Derrick said.

* * *

"Remember, be polite…" Kitty whispered as they descended down the stairs.

"I think it's too late for that as well…" Alex whispered back, remembering which words he used in their first meeting.

They entered a large room, which Alex guessed was the dining room since it had a large table and all the residents were currently sitting there. Alex counted two new additions, a young black-haired girl around sixteen and a brown haired woman around Kohta's age. Trying to remember any thing he knew about manners, a thing that he never was good at since he never had parents to educate him of the proper etiquettes, and he wasn't exactly raised to begin with.

"Thank you for your hospitality, I'm Alex," he said with a bow, the girl by his side mimicking his movement, though with more success, where Alex' bow seemed clumsy and awkward hers was more fluid.

"I'm Kitsune, thank you again," she said, raising a few eyebrows at the sound of her name. "Or you can simply call me Kitty," she added when she saw their reaction.

"We're happy to have you here, I'm Yuka and this is Mayu," the older one, Yuka, said and motioned them to take their seats. Doing as they were told they sat side by side. Yuka took her leave, disappearing into the depths of the house, leaving a silent Mayu with the guests.

A few awkward minutes of silence passed until Alex decided to break it since he was starting to feel nervous because she kept staring at him. He couldn't blame her though, he doubted that they received guests very often, let alone a guy wearing bandages over his head. He wore his usual, and only, clothes, his black cargo pants and a white tanktop.

"So, how many of you live here?" he started, hoping he could have a normal conversation with her.

"Huh?" she answered and Alex had to smile at that. "Oh, there are five of us, though Yuka has her own apartment,"

The girl seemed to be a bit uncomfortable so Alex decided to stop the conversation. Returning her a nod he turned to look at Kitty, who was staring out at the balcony, which had a good view of the gardens outside.

Time passed quietly, too quietly in Alex' opinion, and eventually Yuka and Nana started bringing the plates to the table. Not before too long there was a variety of foods of the table and Alex suspected that he would start drooling soon.

Eventually all the occupants of the house were sitting by the table and were prepared to eat. Alex felt his mood rise as he watched the appetizing food and the realization that he was about to eat it. Rice balls, something which looked like noodle soup and some things which he didn't recognize. He knew how to cook, but he only knew how to make simple things like breakfast or dinner and some of them things that were on the table made him appreciate the skill of the cook or cooks.

"Itadakimasu," Everyone said and the feast began.

Even while eating Alex felt his nervousness rise. Kaede wasn't taking her eyes off from him, Kohta was looking at him expectantly, and Nana and Mayu were looking at him curiously while Yuka was looking at him with suspiciousness. They took great care to avert their eyes when they saw him looking at them, all with the exception of Kaede who didn't seem to give a damn about it, but he still noticed and felt their gazes on him.

"The food is fantastic, who is the cook?" Alex asked, deciding to make a light conversation.

"That would be me," Kaede answered. "Nana and Mayu helped,"

'Jackpot.' Though Alex. He didn't expect the woman to be the cooking type but now at least they had a common interest and that meant something to converse about.

"Aah, fellow souls who love the makings of food. I can easily taste that the food was made by someone who loves to do this," he said with a wide smile, looking at the two younger girls, one of whom was practically beaming at the compliment.

"I do what I can, Mayu made most of the work anyway," Kaede stated, though Alex could hear that her tone was now lighter.

"The soup would be better with a bit more salt, but that's a matter of opinion. The rice balls are excellent though, one of the bests I've ever had," he added, saying the complete truth. The food was amazing.

"Thank you," Mayu said gratefully. Kaede remained silent and Nana offered him her widest grin.

"Maybe we could exchange a few recipes? I can cook as well, though nothing fancy but I can make a good breakfast, at least that's what I've been told," he offered.

"I would like that, thank you again," Mayu replied with a smile.

Good, now he had one ally in this house. He guessed that getting on Kaede's better side was going to require more work. He glanced at Kitty, seeing her attention on the noodle soup, an expression of concentration of her face. While she didn't 'master' the chop-sticks, she could at least use them now, so there won't be any awkward moments with the food from her side. So far, he took all the attention to himself, and Kitty didn't look like she wanted to talk or anything.

"Uh, Kitty-san, how old are you?" Yuka suddenly asked. Kitty looked up from her meal.

"I'm…" she started but paused there, visibly pondering. Her thinking expression quickly turned to one of distress and she looked at Alex for any help, but he only shrugged. How the hell would he know that? "I don't know…" she finally said, her voice barely a whisper.

Everyone paused for a second, taking in her words, Yuka and Kohta exchanging a glance.

"She looks to be around eighteen," Alex offered, looking at his companion.

"Okay, so I'm eighteen," Kitty stated seriously.

"I'm soon to be nineteen," Alex answered before anyone could ask.

"Okay, are you two an item of something?" Yuka asked, offering Kitty a smile.

Alex chocked on his rice and Kitty tilted her head to the side while looking puzzled at Yuka.

"An…item?" she asked the woman. Alex stopped choking on his meal, avoiding the smirking Kaede's gaze and took a sip from his tea, trying to not look at Kitty. What the hell made this Yuka woman ask that all out of the blue? This also made him think of it as well.

They weren't an item; they were just road companions and former housemates and currently, roommates. He doubted Kitty fully knew of what Yuka meant but the question was what he thought of that.

"You know, a couple. A boyfriend and girlfriend," Yuka explained.

"Oh…" Kitty mouthed as she put on a contemplating face.

"Yuka, I don't think it's the appropriate time for such a question," Kohta said and Alex decided he would thank him later for his rescue attempt.

"Oh fine," Yuka relented with a pout. "You will have to excuse me, we didn't have guests in quite a while and I was curious,"

"It's okay," Alex assured.

Alex noticed Kitty's questioning gaze upon him and he looked back. He didn't have to be a genius to know what she was asking with that look. He guessed he wouldn't mind being closer to her since he did like her, quite a lot but it seemed…almost criminal to think that way of her. She had that certain innocence to her and naivety that made him feel that he would be ruining something about her even if he would think about her in that way. Offering her a shrug, noting that he was shrugging quite a lot lately, he returned to his food.

The rest of the dinner was mostly silent after that conversation and soon enough everything was done. Alex offered to help washing the dishes, offering Kohta a good opportunity to speak with him in private. Picking up the dishes, Kaede and Kohta helping him, he left to the kitchen, leaving Kitty with the three other females.

Placing the plates and teacups in the sink he opened the water and grabbed a sponge and began washing the dishes.

"You told me I will get some answers now," Kohta said.

"Shoot,"

"What happened to you?"

"Well, Kitty escaped a little over a week ago. Somehow they found us and we had to run. My apartment was blown up in the process and we found ourselves homeless,"

"You have vectors. How? I didn't sense you or anything and I don't see horns so that means you're not one of us," Kaede asked, walking next to him, carrying a dry towel and starting to dry the dishes.

"I don't entirely sure of that. Somehow I ended up being able to use them after the good old chief tampered with my head. As for why you didn't sense me, beats me. I consider that a good thing," he answered as he handed her a plate. "As for my horns…I lost one because of a baseball bat colliding with my head and the other one I cut off myself,"

Kaede winced at that, being familiar with the pain accompanied by a loss of a horn.

"So you're not a Diclonius?" she asked.

"As I said, I'm not sure. I can sense you, but you can't sense me,"

"Why here? Why us?" Kohta asked, returning into the conversation.

"You and Nana lived here for two years now. If they couldn't find you for two years, it means that we will be relatively safe here,"

"How do you know about that?" the older Diclonius asked.

"I was curious. I got out five years ago. By that time they forgot about me so I could walk freely and I wanted to find out what was the source of all the commotion, eventually finding you," he answered, sending a glance at Kaede.

"Then why didn't you contact us back then?" Kohta asked.

"In all honesty I think you already had enough chaos without me being there," Alex replied with a chuckle.

"So what are you planning to do?" Kohta asked.

"The usual. Either we wait until they stop looking for us or until they resort to more drastic measures. Every possible way to get out of the city is under surveillance, just like last time, so running away is out of the question,"

"That might be problematic," Kaede stated.

"I know," Alex said grimly as he looked her in the eyes. "I promise you, in the first signs of trouble we will disappear and they won't suspect we were even here,"

"Thanks," she muttered, her tone indicating that there wasn't a bit of gratefulness in her words.

"You're welcome," he replied with a grin. "Almost done here, I can finish everything by myself from here,"

"As you wish," Kohta said, turning away to return to the others. "Just one more thing, if you're planning on staying you will have to help with the house chores,"

"Oh, I have no problem with that," Alex answered, hoping that the house only looked big. At that Kohta and Kaede left the kitchen, leaving Alex by himself.

He knew that he should be grateful. They allowed them to stay, even with the risks involved in such an action. At least he and Kitty could rest properly now, without worrying that someone might see them.

After finishing with the dishes he returned to the room, seeing Kohta and Kaede sitting together, in the middle of a conversation, probably about himself, and Kitty sitting outside in the garden with the other girls. Dropping himself unto a couch he watched the girls, respecting Kohta and Kaede's privacy, as they talked about who knew what.

Feeling utmost relief, having filled his stomach to the brim and the subdued killer headache, he relaxed in the couch, marveling at how comfortable it was. After a few minutes he began to feel sleep overcoming him and his eyes close. He shook his head to stop that, feeling that it would be improper for him to fall a sleep on the couch in the middle of the room.

"I guess I'll go grab a few hours of sleep, I'm exhausted," he said as he picked himself up from the couch and got to his feet. "Good night," he sad to the pair who shared a couch.

Walking to the edge of the balcony he repeated his words and allowed his legs to carry him up the stairs and finally to his new room. Taking off most of his clothes, leaving himself only in his underwear and tanktop he collapsed unto the futon and stared at the ceiling. Maybe he was used to the mattress of his old bed but sleep didn't conquer him this time, so he spent the next few minutes simply staring at the wooden ceiling, starting to feel a bit frustrated.

The door slid open and he raised his head to see Kitty entering the room. Closing the door after her she went to her own futon.

"That went well, didn't it?" she asked him.

"Yeah, it could've been worse. They allowed us to stay for a while,"

"That's good, I liked this place," she said as she took off her clothes. Alex looked away, hoping she won't remove all of them, like she usually does.

"Yeah, I like it too. They look like nice people, with the exception of Kaede perhaps," he said with a chuckle.

Feeling something against his back he turned his head to see Kitty wrapped in her blanket, a look to the pile of clothes that lied at the feet of her futon was enough to discern that she was completely naked, again. Wondering why she decided to sleep on his futon when she had one of her own he was about to turn back to his side when he felt her hand on his shoulder, preventing him from doing so. Looking at her questioningly he wondered what she wanted from him now, since she wore a puzzled expression on her face.

He kept looking into her eyes, looking for an answer since it didn't look like she was about to give him one, in fact it seemed that she was questioning something herself. Rolling in his futon to completely face her he turned his full attention to her, now completely curious in what she wanted.

"What?" he asked quietly but got no response.

Then she moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Alex froze there, wondering what she was doing now. Thinking over all the possibilities he didn't notice the slight parting of her lips and how she slowly closed her eyes.

In a single moment it was like his brain was turned off as all thought process was stopped as he felt warm lips press against his. He didn't even breathe, instead only feeling and looking with wide eyes at her. She was kissing him!

Why was she doing that? Of all things he was expecting, this wasn't among them. Trying to think of the reasons behind this behavior he was interrupted by her, as he felt her arms tighten around him, involuntary bringing her body closer to his. Feeling her lips against his, the warmth of her body against his was enough to send all traces of logical thinking out of the window.

He started kissing her back, warping his own arms around her and raveling in the feeling, in _her_. He felt her lips part a bit and something warm and soft slide into his mouth. Realizing it was Kitty's tongue he returned the gesture. Wondering where she learned to do this, guessing she would either reply by saying that she read this somewhere, he intensified the kiss.

She rolled to the side, ending up on top of him. The felling of her body on top of his was enough to for his the blood rising to his face and somewhere lower…

Kitty released a muffled moan as she held him tighter, feeling unfamiliar emotions and other things she couldn't identify. Alex rolled under her, reversing their situation as she ended up beneath him. He kissed lower, trailing along her cheeks and ending at her neck. His hot breath causing her to shudder as he kissed her neck she released another moan. She grabbed his shirt and pulled it off from him, the young man offering little to no resistance to the action. Kitty felt all kinds of emotions, both familiar and unfamiliar. The feeling of his body heat, his skin against her was enough to send her thoughts into a mess but beneath all that jumble that was her mind she understood one feeling above the others, she was blissful.

Alex never felt this way in his life and he knew one thing for sure: this was awesome. All thoughts about slumber long forgotten he allowed his hands to rail her body, feeling every croon and curve. Feeling her hands trail lower along his back, finally reaching his underwear, he knew that they will share his shirt's fate. At that revelation he understood that sleep will have to wait.

* * *

**Woah...uhm, this was interesting. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you will be looking forward to the next one. I'm not sure i got the proper etiquette, since im not really familiar with the Japanese one so please, correct me if i got anything wrong, okay? Thank you for reading this, and remember, constructive criticism is always accepted and suggestions, ideas and opinions will help me greatly to improve this story. Thanks again! 'Till next time.**


	9. A good morning

**A/N: Okay, here i am again! Sorry it took me like, months to update this story but anyway, here it is, the next chapter! Now, enjoy this newest chapter!**  


* * *

Kaede woke up earlier than usual, a lot earlier than anyone else in the house. She tried getting back to sleep but she found out that she had too much on her mind to simply fall asleep again.

First of all, there was the issue with their newest visitors, mainly the kid. He was a complete mystery to her. As far as she knew, Diclonius were exclusively female, so why was there was a male in her house who had vectors and could sense them?

She had no answers and it seemed that he didn't have any either, then again, he might've held out on some information last night. Regardless, she had to wonder why Kohta agreed to let them stay. Kohta did have a thing with taking in homeless people into his house, ranging from a naked girl on the beach who could only say a single word to a runaway girl, though this Alex seemed to be an exception since he was male. That thought caused her to let out a silent chuckle.

The other Diclonius that now stayed here, Kitty, didn't worry her a bit. It seemed like Alex could make sure that she didn't get into, or cause, trouble in this house. She also seemed quite attached to the young male, if the noise from their room that she heard last night was any indication.

Deciding to pull Alex into a private interrogation later this day she headed to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. One of the things she picked up during her stay in this family was cooking, which she had a talent for, as far as comments went.

Kaede stopped right before she entered the kitchen, the sound of clattering dishes reaching her ears. Silently entering the kitchen the first thing she saw was Nana, who was quietly sitting on table, completely transfixed on the other occupant. The next image was a little surprise for her, since she rarely saw such things anymore.

There stood Alex, cooking rise, a feet away from him floated a knife, which was cutting vegetables and several other things floated around with purpose as Alex simply stood there, ignoring what his vectors were doing while humming some tune to himself.

Kaede stopped near Nana, who greeted her with a nod and quickly returned to the spectacle. Kaede silently watched as the kitchen work went on until she loudly cleared her throat.

Alex turned around to regard her with one of the widest smiles she had ever seen and he seemed extremely cheerful and rejuvenated. _'No wonder, considering his occupation last night…'_ Kaede mused.

"Aah! Good morning!" he greeted and returned to his work. "So good of you to come down here, I was just making breakfast, it's the least I can do for your hospitality," he said, "the least I could do is offer a pair of hands…or four, as long as it wont kill me."

"That's pretty impressive," Kaede remarked, seeing the five barely visible vectors that floated around like snakes, each doing something. She noted how weak these vectors were now, knowing well that they could be a lot more powerful, considering he pinned her down with them only yesterday.

"Heh, one of the joys of not thinking like all Dicloni," he replied and Kaede noted the slightest change in tone.

"What do you mean?" Nana asked, curiosity showing in her eyes. Alex stopped cooking the rise and turned to them, his expression still cheerful but not in the same level as it was seconds ago.

"Diclonius…our kind knows by instinct that these arms are weapons and unfortunately a lot of them forget that they have many, many uses," he explained.

"You talk like you met a lot of us," Kaede more stated than asked and noticed how his expression dropped and was replaced with something akin to regret, an expression she saw a lot in the mirror in earlier days.

"Test Subject Alpha One," he simply said, his eyes looking distant.

Alex wondered if he should tell them anything about himself. He might be compromising himself again but really, it's not as if Kaede or Nana will go to Kakuzawa to talk to him. Deciding to go with the 'hey, why the hell not' course of action, he turned to them. It wasn't even something he told Kitty, which he regretted he didn't do now since he was about to tell his shortened full story to complete strangers.

"That's me."

Kaede narrowed her eyes, the name completely unfamiliar. Nana just looked confused. Diclonius were usually just given a number, Lucy and Nana being the sole ones who received a name.

"I…was tested against other Dicloni. Mostly combat situations. I tried not to kill them, succeeded almost every time. They were…weak most of the time, expendable," he said bitterly, "They just stood there like idiots, swinging their vectors as if it was enough to kill me. Some actually remembered they had a body. They were tough, nearly died several times."

"Was there a purpose?" Kaede asked, genuinely curious about such thing. When she was in captivity, she was always either strapped in her cell, strapped to a wall with chains to undergo some wicked test or two.

"I don't know, but I have my guesses. The good old chief thought it might be a great idea to create a hunter for himself, shape a Diclonius to do his biddings and I was that Diclonius, since I was…a special case, a prototype and an anomaly," he summarized, "I can sense you, you cant sense me, I got combat training and well, I refused to kill anything and preferred to knock out my opponents, so I was perfect for the job,"

"Explain," Kaede more demanded than asked, hearing that he was trained to track down people like her and the dangers such a thing could bring.

"Test Subject Alpha Two…" he said weakly, almost in a whisper, "she's my twin sister. We were born together with horns and all that stuff and locked away in that facility. When we grew up a bit older the strangest thing happened: my sister became a homicidal maniac with invisible arms and I stayed the same. It went on that way, me staying the same, not developing any kinds of vectors. As far as observation goes, I'm a complete human."

"Then, Kakuzawa decided to mess with my brain and gave me this greatest 'gift'," he spat angrily, "In short, after a prolonged use of my vectors I might simply drop into a coma or die from a brain hemorrhage. Sweet isn't it?" he finished, smiling at them, "Oh, and I revealed you my greatest weakness, so please don't use that against me," he added in an afterthought.

Kaede thought over what he said, simply looking at him. Nana looked rather worried.

"So, you want to say that if you use your vectors for too long you might actually die?" she finally asked.

"Yep, takes the whole 'with great power comes great responsibility" thing to a whole new level, or in my case it involves a lot of pain in the head. I'll also get a lot of headaches if I use too many vectors,"

"Too many?" Kaede asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, don't know how many I have exactly, the safe limit is four with full power, I reached ten in one of their experiments though I lost consciousness and had a hell of a migraine afterwards. Bastards couldn't even spare an aspirine…"

"Wow…" Nana remarked, "that's a lot of vectors."

"Yeah, but I wont be able to use them for long, ill probably drop dead or unconscious in no time!" he replied cheerily, which was odd considering the topic of the conversation, "Alright, that's enough about my heavily damaged brain, I don't like to talk about dull and dark subject like this one."

Kaede gave him a nod, having gathered enough information from him so far. Pondering about everything he said it made her feel sorry for him, but only a bit. He was stuck there since birth, lost his sister and then experimented on her and forced to fight and most probably endure other tortures. At least now he was outside and had a life of his own, even if he was currently on the run.

"It smells good," Nana said, looking at all the food that was soon to be ready to be eaten.

"Of course it would! I didn't waste years to learn how to feed myself! You know, after a while insta-ramen and the 'dumpster meals' I used to eat start to make you feel sorry for yourself. Heh," he replied with a chuckle, stirring the cooked rise. Kaede winced at that, knowing well what it meant to be on the street. She had to eat a couple of times from a dumpster but usually she just got into a house and…murdered its occupants. Those memories raised another pang of guilt inside her.

A loud noise from the corridor brought her out from her reverie and she turned to see Kitty enter the kitchen, messily dressed with her hair in the same state. Alex's mood instantly brightened, and it showed. He turned to her with a wide smile and looked at her. She in her turn blushed like a tomato and walked up to him, sending a glance at Kaede and Nana's direction before giving him a quick peck on the cheek and taking a seat at the table.

"How are you this lovely and amazingly beautiful morning?" he asked her, returning to his cooking.

"Ah, I'm fine," she answered quietly, still looking rather embarrassed. Nana looked curious about the behavior but Kaede knew better and it reminded her of something.

"By the way," she started, causing Alex and Kitty to look at her, "Next time you decide to do that again, please try to be quieter, I prefer to have my dinner without having to listen to you two do that up there," she finished and with a smirk turned and left the room, not needing to see the embarrassed blushes that appeared on the couple's faces.

* * *

O'Brian and Mike walked through the corridors of one of the underground floors of the facility, being led by one of the staff.

Kakuzawa told them to go to this place to get their newest 'tracking equipment' as he put it. Somewhere deep inside the Sergeant was starting to get a bad feeling. He usually called it his instincts and he tried listening to them but this time he had no choice but to ignore them. Its not like they could simply quit their job and he doubted the chief will simply let them walk off with their pay-check after everything they saw here, especially when they were foreigners.

He was on this level one time, seemingly a long time ago but in reality only a year has passed. On this level he received his first-hand introduction to the Diclonius race, including a quick demonstration of what they could do. What they were going to see here now, he could only hope it won't be too bad.

"I've got a bad feeling about this Sarge," Mike remarked quietly. O'Brian was just glad he wasn't the only one who had the same feeling.

"I know, this isn't looking good," he replied, "Let's just get this over with."

They continued in silence until the man who lead them stopped in front of one of the doors. They entered into the room and the Sergeant heard a weak gasp coming from his brother in arms.

At the end of the room was what he could simply call a bloody mess. The most horrible thing about it was that said bloody mess was still alive. The person who O'Brian now called 'bloody mess' raised her bloodied head and soaked in blood long pinkish hair to look at her visitors. The empty gaze of the girl made him feel uneasy. Her naked body was riddled with bruises and wounds that didn't have the chance to heal before either being reopened or new ones added, in fact, O'Brian saw more blood than skin.

"Jesus Christ, she's just a girl!" Mike nearly shouted and the sergeant noticed his hand resting a bit too close to the holster of his handgun.

O'Brian knew why he reacted like that. They were working with the institute for only a year and they saw these 'monsters', as the personnel labeled them, only three before this case. The first one was the demonstration, which involved an armed officer shooting a full clip into a chained Diclonius, the second one was an escape attempt and they got too late to stop her since someone managed to get a lucky shot and kill that girl but not before the girl killed eight men and the last time was their current target.

But this…this was simply wrong. They didn't see the conditions that these girls had here. If they did, O'Brian was sure that he would've said 'no thanks' but now, they were pretty much stuck here. This girl didn't even look older than fifteen!

"What the fuck are you doing with them?" Mike continued, pointing a finger at the girl and nearly shoving his face into the man's face, who admirably kept his calm at the face of an armed man.

"I can assure you that this thing is not 'just a girl'," the main said, quite annoyed, "she will tear you into ribbons if given the chance."

"I know that but why is she all covered in blood? What have you been doing to her?" Mike continued, not giving up.

"We were conducting necessary experiments, which are none of your business, _soldier_," the men said, putting emphasis on the last word. O'Brian had to wonder who in their right mind would deem such experiments as necessary.

"Sergeant," the men said, catching his attention, "Meet Number 31. She will help you locate your target."

O'Brian raised an eyebrow at that. How could a girl who looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks, couldn't even walk help them in any way. Apparently the men knew of the questions he had as he continued without waiting for a reply.

"These creatures have an ability to sense one another. It's easier for them to track each other down. I won't go into a detailed explanation because I am sure you have much more important things to do but in short, she will know where your target is and she will help you find her. The only downside is that your target will know she is coming."

"How can we be sure that she will help us? I mean, I don't think she will be glad to hunt one of her own kind," O'Brian remarked.

"Have this," the man said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone, "There is only a single number in the memory. In any case of trouble with 31, call the number and it will trigger an explosive attached to her heart."

"You mean…she had a bomb in her heart?" Mike asked; visibly pale as he sent a glance on the girl who was still emptily gazing at them.

"Correct. This method proved to be reliable, as long as the subject with the bomb doesn't get a hold on the detonator, so bear that in mind. If she gets the detonator, you are as good as dead," the man explained.

"Okay…" the sergeant replied, not sure on how to feel about this. This '31' might just kill him to get the detonator before he could activate it, "But what if she does get a hold on it?" he could help but ask.

"Oh, if you remember the neural chip we 'installed' into you," the man said, causing O'Brian to wince. It was the main reason why he and his team were basically trapped in this job. When they first started working here, the chief had them a neural chip installed in their heads for 'security related reasons' but soon enough the team found out the reason. Kakuzawa will know where they were, always. "If the chips will confirm that you are dead, the detonator will not be needed. The explosive charge will automatically detonate, so do not worry, you are safe from her as long as you are alive and if you die, it won't matter."

"Okay, that's assuring," Mike muttered.

"She was already briefed on your situation, you may speak with her if you want, I am sure that she wants to live a little longer now…" the man said with a chuckle and left the room to do whatever he did in this facility.

The sergeant glanced at Mike, who replied with a shrug and O'Brian took several steps into the middle of the room, what was deemed the 'safe zone' against any chained Diclonius.

"Uh…hello," Mike began, quite uneasily. It wasn't everyday that you spoke to a naked girl who was chained to a wall with more bruises than skin. '31' didn't respond, so Mike tried again.

The girl didn't respond at all, she simply stared at them. O'Brian was about to tell Mike to leave her alone when the girl opened her mouth and talked with a hoarse voice, which obviously wasn't used much. "What do you want?"

* * *

Alex silently ate as he watched the other occupants of the inn converse between themselves but his gaze was mostly on Kitty.

He wasn't sure what but something changed in her, or in the way he viewed her. Before she was just the pretty Diclonius girl he saved from pursuit and life on the street which probably wouldn't have lasted long until she was recaptured. Now though, it was different. He guessed it was because of what they did last night, which he could summarize with a single word: Awesome.

While he was already with a girl once, one distant relative of Jirou's, it was an entirely different thing with Kitsune. His time with that other girl was good, and it was a one-time only but it didn't feel as…awesome as this time with Kitty. Regardless, he enjoyed it greatly and he was sure that Kitty enjoyed it as well, if what she told him last night counted.

He was also rather surprised at how quickly Kitty caught on and he would've thought she already did this before unless she hadn't told him that he was her first. Once again, he wondered just what kind of books did she read at his now-ruined apartment.

He was sure that from now on their relationship will be entirely different. He already saw her naked before, since she had some thing with clothes as far as he could see but this morning when he saw her again there was something else in her. She wasn't just pretty anymore; she was beautiful, one of the best things in the world. He wouldn't mind spending all his time with her and definitely he won't mind a repeat of last night.

Kitty caught his gaze several times and offered a smile which was accompanied with a blush. She wasn't sure how to feel now, whether to be embarrassed, scream with joy or just kiss the young man she grew to love in such a short span of time.

She still couldn't be sure how it happened. She was familiar with the subject of love, even if she didn't a lot about it; she knew a thing or two but that was it. She knew she loved him, and in a different way, not like she loved his food or showers. He helped her right off the bat, without even asking anything in return and she was suspicious at first. From what she remembered, not everyone gave anything without something in return, but he did. From suspicious it grew to become appreciation and from there to admiration and sometime during the brief time they knew each other, she grew care for him as more than just a friend.

Last night Yuka and Mayu questioned her, which more was like interrogated her for some unknown reason about her relationship with Alex. She didn't know _why_ it interested them since it was completely not related to them but they still questioned her. During that 'interrogation' Kitty suddenly realized that she cared for the young man, a lot. On Yuka's advice, she did something about it, though she was sure that what she and Alex did last night was not on Yuka's mind.

Well, maybe that was Alex's whole plan! Him being nice to her to get her into his bed but then again, if that was the truth, she didn't really mind, since she really did enjoy being with him.

She caught Alex staring at her again, with that stupid dreamy expression on his face whenever he thought of something nice and this time she returned him one of her greatest smiles.

Alex saw the smile and sent her a toothy grin. So far, staying in the inn turned out to be good, with unexpected, and pleasant, surprises. He had to wonder how many more surprises were waiting for him here.

* * *

They were in a helicopter that was heading towards Kamakura. The mostly nervous team looked at their newest member, or 'tracking device' according to the chief, as she watched the outside world out of the small window while expressing for the first time her feelings. After she was cleaned, she was given clothes and now she was with them, fully cleaned and with a beaming smile on her face. He dark pinkish hair was almost down to her waist and she wore a simple black dress over her body, hiding many of her bruises. Luckily for them her face was surprisingly intact, other than a small gash above her forehead, which was already closed. It wouldn't do them good if any people will suspect they were beating a 'defenseless' child, even though she could probably slaughter the whole town by herself if she didn't meet any resistance.

Most of the team was worried about having a Diclonius walking around with them but after the sergeant explained the situation, and what will happen if they died, they relaxed to some extent. It still didn't stop them from being uneasy around her.

Mike though tried to befriend her; at least that was what Andrew understood. Mike tried to talk to her but she simply brushed him off each time and when he asked what her name was she simply said that she didn't have any other than the number she had. After that Mike decided to stay silent but O'Brian knew that Mike was far from giving up. He was like that.

As they finally entered Kamakura's airspace 37 watched the city from above, the feeling of joy overflowing her. After all her life being locked there to her it was a dream come true. She never thought that man, Kakuzawa, will keep his word if she agreed to do as he said. Of course, back then she didn't expect him to plant a bomb in her heart but it didn't really matter. Everything was better than staying there and having a bomb in her heart was not such a high price as long as she didn't piss off her new 'handlers'. They didn't even look like everyone else she saw in the institute; mainly, they differed in the eye department and they sometimes spoke words she didn't understand.

They didn't seem to be bad so far, most of them staying silent with the exception of that man, named Mike if she heard right. He didn't seem to be bad and he was somewhat angry about the way she was imprisoned back on that island and for some reason he was always trying to talk with her. It wasn't bad but his bombardment of questions quickly grew to annoy her. As long as he didn't annoy her too much he will stay in one piece. They said she weren't allowed to kill anyone, losing a couple of limbs wasn't part of the agreement though she supposed they didn't have to know that. Then again, there was the matter of the detonator, so… no cutting off limbs yet.

As they flew above the city some odd feeling crept into the back of her head, a feeling that she always felt when she was at the institute. It was the feeling she always got whenever another one of her kind was near. She knew why these soldiers needed her and she could only guess that the one she sensed now was the one they were looking for.

Several seconds later her eyes widened. There were more! Two more with her! So there were several Diclonius in this city, and all of them together in one place. She could simply say a word and they will fly there and possibly die at their hands or capture them and they will return her back to the base before she even managed to set foot on the ground! No, that wouldn't do at all. She never said how long it might take her to find her; neither did they specify how much time she had. Even though she was young, she prided herself with being rather smart. An idea quickly forming in her mind she allowed herself to smile again.

The chances were that these soldiers will die if they attack them now. She doubted they could handle a single Diclonius, so three were out of the question for them. And if they died, she will join them quickly. She wasn't planning on dying yet.

The plan was complete and she knew what she was going to do. She turned to this Mike and he looked at her curiously.

"Yes?" he asked her, a small hint of hopefulness in his voice.

"I'm hungry," she said with a smile. No one said she couldn't wait until she started her search.  


* * *

**Heh, great chapter in my opinion and i enjoyed working on this story again. Right now, RL is being a bitch for me so i'm not sure how often i will be able to update. So, hopefully it will be soon. Thank you for reading this story and i hope that you enjoyed reading it. Feel free to leave comments, suggestions and opinions! They are very welcomed! :D Until next time! **


	10. The beggining of the end

**Hello again! Now, please dont shoot me for not updating the story again, as i promised i would but seriously, RL's been a bitch lately. So i was rather busy with it but i vacanted some time now! Anyway, as you will see below, i had this new...well, dont know how to call it, so ill call it, 'thoughts' thing. This will show up in future chapters as well, but not every one. So...just call it an experiment, and tell me what you think. Now, enjoy this chapter! Its shorter than usual though...**

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_It's odd. Me and Kitty lived in maple house for almost a week now, which is damn odd since I actually feel welcomed there, and I feel that Kitty feels the same. All the people there accepted us without questions, well, with the exception of Kaede who to this day keeps bombarding me with questions. I can't really blame her anyway…I saw the extent of how much the institute wanted her back two years ago. It might be paranoia but it's not a bad thing to be cautious, then again, I'm a paranoid myself…_

_It's nice to see that Kitty is feeling more accepted now, or whatever she feels. When I first found her she was closed, awkward and just curious about anything related to me. Now, even though she, and for that matter I, cannot go outside of the walls in fear that we might be spotted and unleash hell upon our heads she seems more…peaceful, happy. And still, somewhere deep inside her I still see pain, and I fear that it won't go away anytime soon. I can't be sure, but I suppose even I carry such pain inside._

_We all have scars. Some of us, well, most of us carry physical scars. I have one just beneath the left side of my ribs, quite gruesome, from a vector that nearly cut me in half. Kitty has some nasty ones too. I do not doubt that Nana and Kaede have some two, though for some reason I doubt that Kaede has some big ones, because to tell the truth, she looks damn near perfect. Nana got quite the worst of it, from several conversations I had with her I gathered that all her limbs were torn off from her and what she used now were prosthetics. I can't imagine the pain it was for her, and how painful it's for her now, because she can't feel anything she touches, but she endures it with that goofy smile. We actually shared a laugh when she told me how her limbs would fall off sometimes, freaking out everyone around her. Damn, now that must've been awkward! I tried to ask her how it happened, but she avoided answering my question, though I did catch the barely noticeable quick glimpse she shot Kaede._

_Then there is the second type of scars…I don't doubt that every diclonii has those. I have those, Kitty has those. I can always see Kaede sit by herself by the gardens, always alone with the main exception being Kohta. But even though I can't see any scars of their bodies I can easily see that they carry scars that go deeper than any bullet could ever go. Every time I see Kaede look at Kohta I can see the pain and love in her eyes, but the main thing her eyes display are regret. I don't know what happened between them, it's not my place to ask and certainly none of my business but I can see that Kaede caused great pain to the young lad, and he still accepts her. Now that's a fine guy, the world needs more charming guys like him…now that sounded wrong. In a disturbingly bad way._

_I don't know if these scars will ever heal, I know that mine didn't but I simply ignore their existence, but it's not something that everyone can do. I've been told that even after living two years with them Kaede still hadn't opened up to them fully. I still see that tiny spike of uncertainty - perhaps even fear - every time Nana speaks to Kaede. Even Mayu, whom unfortunately I didn't speak as often as with any of the others, carries some kind of burden. And Kitty, my lovely fugitive companion, even she carries some burden. I know it because I watch her, listen to her and sometimes soothe her back to sleep every time she wakes up from some kind of nightmare, an expression of horror and pain plastered to her face. I can only say one thing. I will not allow anyone to add any more scars to her already large list._

_Alex, Alpha One._

* * *

"Aaahhh, that's so tasty! I love it!" Diclonius number 37 exclaimed in a voice full of joy and she ate her fifth ice-cream, this time vanilla flavored.

"Dude, she's freaking me out. I've never seen a girl eat so much ice cream in only ten minutes, and enjoy it so much," Jack whispered to his 'babysitting' partner, Mike, not daring to raise his voice in fears that 37 might hear them.

"That's because she never tasted it before, let alone seen it," Mike explained, sending the young girl a sympathetic look.

"She's still freaking me out. It's been five days and she's only been eating during those days! Be careful, don't feed her too much. I heard that some POW during World War Two died because they ate too much," Jack warned, giving a worried glance to 37, who simply ignored them and continued to eat her ice cream with a blissful smile on her face.

Mike frowned when Jack compared the girl to a POW, but then shrugged when that comparison wasn't that wrong. Then again, even POW received better treatment than this girl ever did. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. I won't let her eat too much," he assured his friend.

"Anyway man, I'm bored as fuck; I think I'll be going back to the hotel. Don't stay too long," Jack said as he stood from his seat and walked away. During these days the young diclonii girl proved to be exactly the opposite of what they expected. While everyone expected her to be a small little devil, she turned out to be an obedient, although disrespectful and uncaring, little girl. While she mostly ignored everyone, she usually did what they asked for and never caused any trouble. By now they trusted her to stay with Mike most of the time, who took it upon himself to take care of her, for whatever unknown reason.

When Jack was out of sight Mike looked back at the girl, to see her look at him with a hopeful expression. "I want another one," she stated, or more likely demanded.

"Sorry kid, but Jack is right, it's unhealthy to eat too much, and you will get a headache from too much ice cream or you might get sick," he explained, shaking his head. 37 frowned and narrowed her eyes.

"You know, I can always break your arm if you won't buy me more…" she said quietly but loud enough for Mike to hear her.

Mike on his turn only chuckled. "Then how I'm going to buy you more? I won't be an any condition to buy ice cream in that situation," he replied with a smile.

37 just snorted in a very unlady-like fashion though Mike did notice the corners of her lips point upward. "Fine, but you will be forced to buy me something tomorrow," she concluded, "Or ill break the bones in your legs to tiny fragments."

"Hah, we wouldn't want that. Wont we?" he replied with a smile.

Quickly enough after their acquaintance such banter between them became the usual. At the beginning Mike was rather terrified by these threats but soon enough, when the girl didn't actually do anything to him, he stopped taking them seriously, well, at least not as seriously as before because the girl really could kill him with a single thought.

37 sat quietly after that, seeping that odd, sweet drink through a straw while watching the various people walk by. It did annoy her a bit that Mike stopped shitting himself every time she threatened him but it brought her a…new look on people and it made her feel…happy that he wasn't scared of her, at least not as before. While she never threatened him in the presence of his teammates, so she won't freak them out, Mike didn't seem to care at all about it and usually took these threats with a smile. Sometimes that smile just made her want to claw his eyes out, or smash his skull like a tomato because it made her feel that she wasn't a powerful as she though and that he didn't perceive her as a threat but in truth, she found herself enjoying his company, though she will kill herself before she would admit it to the soldier. The simple fact that Mike didn't seem to afraid of her made her feel…she couldn't find the word to describe that but what she felt was pleasant.

She pondered about the last few days. Her first time walking down the streets was so amazing. The people, the cars and all the noise! It was as if no one had a care in the world! The people walking to places she couldn't guess, sometimes looking as if they were just aimlessly walking for the sake of it and in truth, she wouldn't be that wrong. The second thing that amazed her was the food. There was so much of it and all of it was different and all the weird drink Mike bought her. That was another reason why she enjoyed Mike's company. Whatever she asked, he bought for her. His squadmates objected at first, stating that he shouldn't waste the money the institute gave them for their mission, Mike eventually persuaded them to allow him to do as he wished. At that day 37 decided that if it will ever come to that, and she found herself hoping that it wouldn't, she will kill Mike in the most quick and painless way. Right now they were sitting at some café, Mike drinking that weird dark and bitter drink while she drank something tasty and ate her ice cream.

"So…" Mike said slowly, a serious expression on his face. "Amy, you still can't find her?" he asked.

37, or Amy as Mike started calling her, just rolled her eyes at the name. When Mike finally annoyed her to the point of a mental breakdown with his pointless questions she just gave up and answered him. When he found out that she didn't have a name, other than a number, he took it upon himself to give her a new one, and that name was Amy. She showed indifference at that name and Mike took it as a yes when he asked her if she liked it. Why that name? She didn't have a clue.

"No, nothing yet since yesterday," she lied. Even now she could feel the trio of diclonii east of her. When she realized that they will give up if she won't find them, meaning she will go back to the hell that was her home, she told them that she sensed her and they went to investigate that location. The only problem for them was that the location was on the other side of town, _very_ far from the true location of the diclonii. "Are you sure she hadn't left the place? I didn't sense her since yesterday and she disappeared quickly enough…" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Mike said after a sigh of frustration. O'Brian and the rest of the squad were beginning to feel frustrated over this search, because so far Amy proved to be useless and a pain on their bank account. And the empty lead they found last night didn't help their already beaten moral. "No one saw anyone matching her description leaving town and we practically have eyes everywhere in the town exits.

"Well, don't worry, I'm sure we'll find her soon enough," Amy assured him, though deep inside she was cheering herself that her plan was so fabulously working.

"Maybe," Mike said, a deep frown appearing on his face as he looked her in the eye. "O'Brian suggested that we should give up with chase because we can't find anything…" he began, breaking Amy's inner cheering as her eyes widened as she looked at him with a surprised look. "This means that you will have to go back there."

Amy's eyes widened even more at those words. Did he suspect anything? No, that couldn't be it. There was no way. She was too careful to let anyone suspect she was just lying to them all that while.

"If we might find her soon or at least get on her trail you won't have to leave so soon…so, try harder if you can," he said, flashing her a small smile.

He knew. He really knew!

"I decided that if this mission will go smoothly ill go speak with Kakuzawa about your treatment." He continued and that sentence drew Amy's curiosity. What did he mean? "If you will perform in a good way, the director might allow me to take you out sometimes, or maybe even stop those awful experiments on you…"

If it was possible, her eyes widened even more when hearing that. Was he really going to do that for her?

"Now, I don't promise anything because Kakuzawa is a bit of a bastard, but I'll try…" Mike said, knowing that it was mostly wishful thinking on his part, but it won't hurt to try. There was an odd moment of silence between them and eventually Amy was the one who broke the silence.

"W-w-why?" she stuttered. She knew that what he said was least likely to happen, but he said he will try. He raised an eyebrow at that uncharacteristic response. Amy never stuttered.

"Because I care. If it was up to me that whole institute would've been erased. I don't believe anyone deserves such treatment," he stated, looking at her with a firm gaze.

Amy just kept staring at him, half of amazement and the other in confusion. All her life those bastards called her a monster and performed those experiments on her. She was treated worse than an animal. Suddenly, all out of the blue this guy, this soldier, decided to make her life better, even if he was bound to fail. Still, the thought mattered to her and it made her feel…warm.

"Ah…thanks, but I doubt it will work…" she said sadly after another long moment of silence.

"Heh, nothing's stopping me from trying." He replied, "We'll just have to see how it goes after we recapture that girl."

That girl…Mike knew that she was just stalling them and knew where she was all along. How he figured it out was beyond her. But she got his hint. If she won't tell them where she was, she was going back into her cell and experiments. She let out a heavy sigh and decided that she couldn't stall them any longer. She also knew that if she were to bring them to her, the pair of diclonii she was with will tear the squad apart and in effect, kill her as well. She needed a plan, and fortunately, she had five days to think of one.

Tomorrow she will bring them to her.

* * *

Alex yawned and stretched his muscles on his couch and released a pleasure-filled sigh when he finished the procedure.

"Waah, I love my naps," he mumbled as he got up from the couch and looked around him to see that he was alone in the room.

Yuka was out of the house, probably still at the university. Nana was doing…whatever she was doing and Mayu was probably with her. Kitty was nowhere to be seen, same with Kaede and Kohta was out of the house, probably at his part-time job. While they lived in this house for free, as Kohta explained, they still had to pay their own money for the food.

The thought about work made Alex cringe. His boss was probably having a fit over worrying about his location, especially after his apartment blew up. Even though Alex wanted, he couldn't contact his friend. The people who chased them more than likely figured out his connection to him and if he will call him, he might get into trouble (if he wasn't in it already).

Deciding to banish those distracting and grim thoughts he walked outside to the garden, setting his mind on finding at least one of the denizens of the house. And true to his predictions, there he found Kitty, sitting on the wooden porch, watching the garden. Alex looked up at the clear, blue sky, feeling grateful that it didn't start pouring down freezing rain on their heads yet, as he would've expected for the season.

Casually walking over, he sat down beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey, how is my gardener?" he asked her, using the nickname she got due to her constant visits to the garden.

She leaned into him, much to his delight and he held her closer. "Oh, I'm fine, how was your nap?"

"Oh, it was glorious! Never had a better nap in my life," he concluded, giving her one of his widest grins.

The young woman slowly turned her head and gave him a blank look. "I'm glad you find me to be so boring," she deadpanned. Alex winced at that little detail. They were lying together on the couch, talking to each other and he must've dozed off…

"Oh, ah…shit," he muttered, breaking eye contact with that awful blank stare.

"Indeed. I guess that I _am_ boring."

"No no, I was just very comfortable there and I couldn't help but fall asleep. You're a very good blanket by the way…" he responded, trying to save the situation.

"Oh, I see. Well, in that case I guess I might as well just go to sleep tonight because I'll get bored to sleep anyway," she said, flashing him a mischievous and victorious green when he gave her a hurt look.

'_Damn, she totally got a leash on me…'_ he mused. Not only she insulted his manhood, she also gave him a genuine threat regarding their nightly actions. He also couldn't help but marvel at how much, for lack of better words, she grew up since her escape. Barely two weeks ago she didn't know much of the outside world, now she was quite well versed in the ways of the world. Add to that her mischievous streak that he missed and her devious cunning, Alex could only summarize that he created a monster.

"Whoa, let's not make any rash decisions," he said, his voice complete with uncanny seriousness. "I know as a fact that you enjoy it as much as I do!"

"Yeah, that true but I know as a fact that I can live without sex," she replied and laughed at him when sighed in defeat.

"Yep, she got a leash…" he grumbled. Kitty shifted in his arms and lay down on his lap. Alex regarded her silently, noticing the troubled look she had.

"Something on your mind?" he finally asked when he was sure she won't share her thoughts. She looked back at him and considered something.

"I'm worried," she said but didn't continue. Alex waited patiently for her to answer but she remained silent. Rolling his eyes and raising an eyebrow he shifted his legs a bit to get her attention.

"Okay, ill bite. What's worrying you?" he asked her.

"Everything. We haven't been found yet, and I don't see any helicopters anymore, I don't see anything on the news, not a whisper about us. I don't like it one bit, it's as if they stopped looking for us and I don't believe they will," she finally explained. "And I'm sure that you sensed that other one that's been moving around the city."

'_Ah, so that's what's bothering her…'_ he concluded.

"Yeah, I noticed. Kaede approached me on that subject a couple of days ago, asked me if I knew anything about it. The only thing I could think of is that it's a new runaway diclonii, but I can't be sure," he said. Several days ago they sensed another diclonii in the town, but she didn't approach them. Kaede warned them that they might be using another one of their kind to track them down, just like they used Nana, but something didn't add up in that theory. If Kaede was right, then why didn't they swoop down on their position yet? It's been four days already and nor did the new diclonii come to them, nor did she bring soldiers to them. As far as they could sense, she just randomly moved around town. The news didn't broadcast anything about murders so that meant that the new arrival kept low profile.

"Hmm, why does Kaede approach you on all these matters?" Kitty asked with a small frown.

"Well, you know me, I'm the brain of this operation!" he smugly announced.

"Considering you don't think with the upper head…should I be worried?" she calmly asked and grinned when she saw Alex's smugness falter faster than a plummeting rock.

"Now that was plain evil…" he replied, "I'm starting to regret I picked you up. You'll be the end of me."

"Oh trust me; I still want to keep _you_ around. You have your uses," she replied with a laugh.

"Now seriously. Stop worrying. If anyone comes to mess with you, just call me. I'll beat them to a pulp," Alex promised.

"Well, I think you still have some uses…" she mumbled as she pulled herself up closer to him and gave him a quick peck on the lips and stood up and walked away, leaving a rather dumbfounded Alex in her wake.

"Wait, that the hell?" he half shouted as he turned to watch her leave.

She didn't stop, but she did turn her head to flash him a wicked and toothy grin. "I'll go take a nap on the couch, now that it's vacant."

"Nah, you're not leaving me alone here you know," he said as he got up and followed her.  


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**Oh yeah. Now this chapter was waaaayyy shorter than my usual stuff, but really, the next chapter will be much more interesting and longer, as the chapter title suggests... anyway, this time i simply wont promise anything. Ill just update this story when ill have the time, because im being really busy lately with some stuff that caught up to me, so... i guess ill write when i will be able to do so. Thanks for reading this story and sticking with it for so long! Constructive criticism, suggestions, ideas, reviews and simple opinions are very welcomed her so dont fear to tell me whats on your mind and what you thought of the story! Thanks again and until next time!**


	11. Complications

**Hello again! Im back and a lot sooner! Now, sorry for the lack of update but i seriously had close to no time to write ANYTHING this week. Now, i've been placed in a hospital for medical analysis and let me say one thing. It was boring, painfully so. No TV, not even bloody radio (!) and most importantly, nothing to write on. Not even the old-school pencil and a piece of paper! Anyway, i was released earlier than expected (i was supposed to stay there for another 5 days) and here i am, just finished writing this and already publishing that. I basically wrote this in my mind during my stay in the hell that is hospital. So here it is, ENJOY! :D**

**To my reviewer(s):**

Ash Aijo: Thank you very much for the review! I'm very glad you have such an opinion of my story and im glad you enjoy it. Hopefully, this chapter will make you like it even more! :D Thanks again.  


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"Ugh…nyagh, wha..?" Alex groaned/mumbled as he felt something prod him in the ribs.

After feeling that prodding sensation again he decided that he probably should open his eyes. Once he did open them he saw Kitty standing above him, giving him a light kick in the ribs every few seconds. She paused for a second, seeing that he was awake and kicked him in the ribs again, this time a bit harder.

"Oof, I'm awake damn it!" he whined, taking note that Kitty's position, standing above him, gave him quite a nice view of what was under her skirt. Apparently, the girl noticed that as well and gave him another kick in the ribs, this one a lot more painful than the last.

"Freaking pervert…" she muttered and walked away as Alex bawled in pain while clutching his wounded ribs.

"Ugh…freaking monster, that's what I created," he muttered. _'Since when does she care about modesty? She's been walking around naked for days in my old apartment for fuck's sake!'_ he wondered.

He moved himself into a sitting position, brushing the grass from the back of his head and shoulders and took a glance at his surroundings. Rubbing his eyes he took note that the sun was already setting down, which meant that he missed the better part of the day. Kaede was sitting on the other side of the garden, a solemn look on her face as she outright ignored him and his rude awakening.

"Get your ass back into the house and help me make some dinner!" Kitty shouted from somewhere inside the house. He gave a blank stare at the house, as if challenging the one who shouted. Alas, there was no reaction to his defiant stare. Kaede seemed to notice though and shot him a somewhat amused glance before she returned to…whatever it was that she was doing there.

Alex groaned as he stood up. The girl really got used to ordering him around and he could only blame himself for allowing her to do so. _'I'm freaking whipped…' _he lamented. He resigned himself to that fact and simply walked over to help his girl with the art of food making.

"Why is it that you spent the whole day sleeping while I need to wait for you like an idiot?" Kitty asked him when he entered the kitchen, not bothering to look at him.

Alex assumed his 'thinking pose' that he very much liked, with his finger moving through the scruffs of the beard that started growing on his chin while he looked at the ceiling. She was right, mostly. Since he had no job now and pretty much nothing to do he did take a liking to napping but it wasn't his fault that Kitty rarely decided to nap with him.

"One more time like this and you're sleeping on the couch," she said offhandedly, breaking Alex's line of thought.

"Okay okay! Stop right there. I won't sleep anymore!" he replied, walking to stand beside her and grab one of the knives to start cutting…something. He looked around, seeing that he wasn't really needed so far. At Kohta's insistence, he stopped using his vectors to cook, saying something about Yuka freaking out whenever she sees floating stuff…

"Good. The only time you can sleep is the night. Not before that," she said with a smile and looked at Alex, who just stood there with a kitchen knife in his hands.

"What?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"Err...nothing," she just shook his head and returned to the cooking, or at least the preparations as she pulled out all the needed ingredients and placed them on the counter.

"Anyway, I was getting bored like this. Every day, you go to sleep and I don't have anything to do without you," she said. Alex quirked an eyebrow at that.

"Why won't you…I don't know, talk with kaede, or the other people in the house?" he asked her.

"Well, considering Kohta and Yuka are usually working, I think, that leaves me with Nana because Mayu is going to school…" Kitty explained. "Kaede scares me and she's not very talkative and Nana…is Nana."

Alex nodded sagely. "True, but give Kaede a shot, she can probably hear you right now anyway," he said and grinned at the sudden drainage of color from Kitty's face. "but don't worry about it, she's probably triumphantly smirking to herself and will later snicker to herself in her room so no one will see her smile," he added to her, smirking to himself.

"Is that so?" said a voice from behind him.

Alex paled in an instance and turned around to face Kaede who to his surprise wore triumphant smirk.

"Hah, see Kitty? Just like I told you!" he loudly announced while pointing an accusing finger at Kaede.

"Keep pointing that thing at me and I might actually do something to it…" Kaede replied, watching the finger in irritation.

"Hah, that's not the only thing I can point at you…we'll see what you'll say then," Alex replied with a sly grin. Unfortunately, that remark didn't have the desired results, if the slap to the back of his head from Kitty was any indication.

"Say something like this again and next time, your 'thing' might not enjoy our next meeting…" Kitty all but growled into his ear. Alex only offered a meek nod, accompanied by a loud gulp. She then looked back at Kaede and offered her a sweet smile. "I'm sorry Kaede-san, please forgive this incompetent dog and if such a thing happens again, please inform me so I will enact the _proper punishment_," Kitty emphasized the last words with a glare at Alex.

Kaede simply snorted, in an unusual display of behavior, and shook her head at the young couple's antics. "Don't worry; I can take care of him myself."

Kitty's smile was replaced by a serious look. "No, please don't. He still has his uses, especially after nightfall and I would like him in one piece,"

All that while, Alex was looking at both women with a blank stare. _'Nice, so that's what I am now. A semi-useful sex-slave…score!'_

Kaede smiled at that. "Alright, I'll let you handle him yourself."

"I can handle her, even with missing limbs. She might need help…" Alex said with a smirk, which earned him another slap on the back of his head. "Okay okay, you win…"

"Fine, I'll leave you two together. Call me down when dinner's ready," Kaede said and left the kitchen. Alex sighed in relief. At least she didn't kick his ass, like she always promised to do.

Somewhere deep inside Alex knew that he won't stand a chance against her in a combat. Unless, of course, he would surprise her, like the first time they met, or if he won't overwhelm her with sheer number of vectors.

By that time Alex turned around Kitty already returned her attention to the food-in-making. He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her. To his satisfaction she leaned into him and he breathed in the smell of her hair. It smelled like…something. It was sweet. He liked that smell, more than he will ever admit. In fact, he liked just about everything related to Kitty. He could stand like this for hours, just standing here, with Kitty in his arms.

"You know, the food won't make itself. As much as I enjoy this, I need to make it and you need to supervise me so I won't burn anything," she said, still leaning into him.

"So I've been reduced to being your personal fire-alarm?" he replied with a smirking chuckle.

"Maybe so…" she mumbled as she turned around and pressed her lips to his.

They stood like that for several minutes, kissing in silence and eventually Kitty broke the kiss, catching her breath. "Okay, now…go sit somewhere and don't bother me. And don't fall asleep!" she said with a beaming smile.

Alex pouted at the request, causing Kitty to laugh at the absurdity of that expression on his face but eventually he complied and collapsed into the closest chair. From there, he marveled at how his girlfriend created the art that he called Food.

* * *

"Please Mike, let me do this," Amy all but begged.

Mike just gave her a suspicious and doubting look. "You know what Sarge will do to me if he finds out…"

"Yeah, but he _won't_ find out! It's not like I can run away or anything, you have that…tracking device or whatever and the bomb!" Amy pleaded again.

They were currently walking down the street, pretty much aimlessly as they ignored all the passer bys and received the same treatment in return.

It's been like this for the better part of an hour: Amy asking Mike to release her and let her go somewhere alone. Where? That Mike didn't know. Or at least that's what Amy thought.

Amy decided that after the conversation they had yesterday she shouldn't stall them any longer, or else, like Mike hinted, they will just throw her back into her cell. So that meant she had to lead them to the Diclonii's location. But of course, she wasn't about to lead them to a freaking den full of diclonius. She wasn't keen on blowing up any time soon.

"Yes, but why do you need to go _alone_? I can go with you," Mike replied, trying the same thing, again.

"Because…because it's something that I need to do alone," she explained to Mikes doubting look. "Please…"

Mike considered his options. He could let her go, and risk O'Brian shouting his lungs out at him for letting the girl go and then, if she won't show up, having to blow her up or trying to track her down, since they did have a tracking device for her, or rather, the bomb. But, if he won't let her go, their chances of capturing their target were getting slimmer since he suspected that Amy knew where she was. The reason why she didn't tell them where she was obvious to him but why she wanted to go somewhere alone was still a mystery. Eventually he came to a decision.

"Fine. I will be waiting by our hotel and don't take too long," he eventually said. Having O'Brian yelling at him was a more appealing outcome than having the mission failed because he was too scared to let her go for several hours.

"Yes! Thank you Mike," she said with a smile and to Mike's surprise, hugged him.

"Nah, don't thank me yet. When do you need to go to…wherever you need to go to?" he asked her, placing his hand on her head, which wasn't hard to do considering her short stature.

"Oh…it's pretty late tonight. I'll tell you when," she explained sheepishly, realizing she forgot to tell him when she needed to leave.

Mike groaned a little. It will harder to hide it from O'Brian now, that she had to 'go somewhere' in the middle of the night. Of course, he could think of some cover story for that, it won't be a problem for him but if Andrew found out…he'll have so much heat on his ass after that. "Oh, fine, just don't say a word of it to Andrew!" he finally replied.

"Roger that!" she answered with a smile. Her planning was working so far. She hadn't reached the key moment yet and she might even die if her plan outright failed but she hoped that it won't come to that.

After that small exchange of words silence dominated them, no one saying a single word to each other for a long time, until they reached their hotel. Mike already realized that he won't get any more from the young girl and she wasn't planning on giving anything else.

One thing was certain: Kakuzawa, even while being a crazy old bastard, took care of his workers (valuable workers and that list was amazingly short). The hotel room was large. Complete with four, large rooms. The best part of the room (according to Mike and Jack) was the small fridge and awesome room service. Anyway, the whole gist of it was that the room was very comfortable and the fact that they didn't have to pay for it only made the room much more inviting.

When Amy and Mike returned to the room not many questions were asked. They got used to that by now and by the time they got back the sun has completely disappeared beyond the horizon. Minutes went by, then the minutes turned into hours and one by one, the inhabitants of the hotel suite left to their slumber, all with the exception of Mike and Amy.

It was around midnight when Amy gave Mike a significant stare. Mike saw it and released a sigh. He stood up, turned off the TV without any interest to what it was showing (he never liked stupid reality TV) and motioned Amy to follow.

"Okay, don't take your time. It's not safe for little girls to wander around at night, especially this late," Mike said to her with all seriousness.

At those words Amy just blankly stared at him, wondering if he was an idiot. Apparently Mike understood that and sheepishly scratched the back of his head and simply shrugged. "Ugh, Just don't kill anyone if someone decides you're a 'defenseless little girl' alright?" he eventually said.

Amy just offered him a wicked grin, genuinely touched that he was worried about her, regardless of the fact that he should be worrying about the people who would mess with her.

"Okay, you don't have to wait for me, you know?" she replied.

"Nah, I'm not going to sleep until you get back, got that? So don't take your time. Do whatever you want to do fast and get back here ASAP," he said with an ordering tone, his voice leaving no room for arguments.

Amy simply nodded, opened the door and left.

It wasn't that she knew that the dicloni were asleep, it was more like she felt it. During her stay in the now dubbed 'Outside World' and her surveillance over the other dicloni that lived in the city she learned to distinguish the differences between their 'presences' during certain times. While during day-time, she could clearly feel them during the night though, they were somewhat…dimmed. They were there, but not fully, just like she was sensing them now.

She already had a clear plan in her head, she just didn't have any assurance that it will succeed. That didn't worry her that much as she expected it would. Either way, she will either be returned to the institute she will spontaneously explode, for whatever reason it might be, since honestly, the reasons to choose from were various.

She quickly made her way through the streets, not really knowing her destination but only knowing the general direction. She cursed herself for not wearing something warmer. It was getting colder at nights already and while the days were mostly warm, the nights were getting colder and soon enough winter will arrive, but Amy didn't have any way of knowing that, being that she was born and raised in the institute and had no knowledge of the seasons.

Nor did she have the common sense of traveling during night, like staying in well lit places and staying away from dark alleys. And if she did, she just didn't care. She entered one such alley, uncaring whether someone was already occupying the darkened passage or not. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for her, it proved to be the former.

She was hastily making her way through the alley when she heard some heavy footsteps behind her. She froze in place and turned around and saw a man behind her, giving her a hungry grin.

"Look what we have here! Are you lost, little girl?" he asked her with a disgustingly sweet voice. He looked like a regular street punk (if street punks were to somehow different from regular people). He looked to be around his early twenties, wearing jeans and a blank t-shirt with a short mop of brown hair on his head. Amy frowned at him, remembering Mike's words. Sighing, she turned back to her destination and resumed her trek.

If the man had any knowledge of diclonius and knew what he was facing he would've probably ran away as fast as his legs could carry him but unfortunately (or fortunately for Amy) he didn't. He followed her with a lazy jog and moved in front of her path.

Amy stopped again, giving him a curious glance. The man was still grinning and Amy got the urge to wipe it away from his face, preferably with the other half of his head.

"Wait, hold on. I can help you find your home if you're lost, but first…" he drawled, and from this distance she could see that he was obviously drunk, if the smell was any indication. "Let's have some fun," he finished and reached out for her.

Amy simply snorted and the man suddenly back away, a puzzled expression on his face as he looked at the stump that once held his hand. Realization soon followed as the puzzled expression was gradually replaced by a look of utter horror. He was about to scream but Amy decided that she shouldn't attract any more attention. With a quick flick of a vector, the man was sent flying into the wall, head first and in two pieces.

She looked for a few moments at the bloody smear the man's head left on the wall and at the gradually growing puddle of blood. After what seemed like minutes to her she simply sighed and continued walking, feeling much better now that she managed to play out some of her frustration.

She felt that she was getting closer to her objective and now after dealing with that idiot, she felt her confidence grow. Her plan _will_ work. That was what she decided.

* * *

The chains around her hands, holding her against the wall and a fist-sized metallic ball hurtling at her at bullet speeds and then red, searing pain…that was what Kitty saw before she woke up.

She woke with a start, letting out a gasp as she opened her eyes, her vision darting in the dark room. It took her several seconds to realize that there weren't any chains holding her against the wall, no cannonballs flying to her face and that the warmth that surrounded her naked body was not blood, but the heat from her lover's body.

She sighed in relief at that realization.

Alex groaned and muttered something incomprehensible in his sleep and she smiled at him. He was…cute, in a weird way when he was sleeping.

She ignored his rambling, since it did not hold any meaning and rested her on his chest. Everything was exactly the way it was supposed to be. Alex here with her, a peaceful night, the residents of the house sleeping and that dicloni girl that hanged out around town…

Her eyes widened for a second. She was close. Too close.

She wondered for a second whether she should wake Alex and/or Kaede. She thought about it only for a second before she deftly and silently got up.

* * *

Amy was nearly at the place where the dicloni stayed. Nearly. She didn't have a clue about which house they stayed at, but she knew that they were close. It's not like she had a damn radar in her head, though that would've been convenient at the moment.

As she walked she sensed that she was getting closer and closer and began to rethink her plan, going through the steps and closely thought them over. She was nearing the final step of her plan and after that; it was completely beyond her control. And so she decided to commence her plan.

She paused there, at the small alley between the old-styled buildings. She suddenly realized that she overlooked one major detail. How the hell was she supposed to meet her target? Was she simply going to walk into their house and find her? That is, if she will even manage to get inside in one piece.

Amy fought the urge to beat her head against the wall and scream in outrage and curse herself for being a complete idiot for overlooking such a major detail. Well then, it left her with only one option. When she will find the house, she will simply…knock on the door and ask to talk with her. Then again, she didn't have a clue of her name, curse her indifference towards her target, now it was coming back to bite her in the ass.

Luckily for her, depends on how you look at it, she didn't have to find the house. Suddenly she felt a tremendous force clamp onto her neck and a murderous pain spread through her back as she was slammed with great force into the stone wall behind her.

She did manage to groan a bit in pain and managed to see her assailant and to her great surprise - and relief, though she wasn't entirely sure about that – it was a dicloni, and if she remembered correctly, it was her target.

The young woman stood before her, completely naked with a murderous look on her face. She managed to see the single vector that held her neck in a vice-grip and pinned against the wall and another three vectors, floating around her like coiling snakes, ready to strike at the first sign of trouble.

In her mind, Amy was currently screaming at her stupidity of getting distracted and allowing herself to be caught off. Of course, this situation sort of made her plan easier to accomplish but then again, what stopped her target from simply lopping her head?

"What do you want?" the young woman in front of her, named Kitsune if she remembered, asked her in a voice so cold that water might've frozen at the sound of it.

"T-talk," she manage to stammer when she felt the force that held her throat lessen a bit.

Kitsune eyed her suspiciously for several minutes, her expression unchanging, that is, still blank and emotionless, until Amy felt the vector over her neck lessen its hold even further.

"Talk, and make it fast," Kitsune said. Even though the vector didn't hold her as tightly as before, her other three vectors were still ready for her.

Amy thought over her words carefully. If she wasn't careful she might just provoke the young woman to kill her.

"This house…you live with others?" she asked her slowly, still breathing heavily from lack of oxygen.

If it was possible, Kitsune's eyes narrowed even further. "Yes, what does it matter?" she asked her.

"Humans too?" Amy asked, truly curious about this.

"Yes," came the short reply. Amy's eyes widened a bit at that. Her experience with humans was a bit…strained at best and she despised them at her worst. With the exception of Mike, and maybe, _maybe_ his team most of the humans she met were vermin.

"Do you…do you care about them?" Amy asked, truly playing a bet here but it was logical to her. Why else would she stay with them?

The reply came after several moments of silence, as if Kitsune herself was thinking of the answer. "Yeah, I do. What does this have to do with anything?"

"If you care about them, than you will come to the bridge tomorrow, you do know where the bridge is, yes?" she said, hoping that she won't end up having to give her directions.

Kitsune looked at her in confusion. "What? Why?"

"I'm…I'm with the soldiers. Tomorrow if you won't come to the bridge, they will come here and probably blow this whole place up," she quickly explained, fully expecting the reaction to her words.

As expected, she felt the vector tighten its grip around her neck and slam her against the wall again, knocking out the breath out of her.

"L-listen, it's not like I want to do this! For all I care, you can stay with the humans for as long as you like but if I won't find you, I'll go back to the institute!" Amy quickly said, hoping that Kistune wasn't about to cut her into ribbons. She was slammed into the wall again. "They already know that you're here but I asked them to let me try to get you out of this place and they don't know about the others yet."

To her relief, she paused and looked at her, her eyes still narrowed. "They don't know about them?" she asked her, very slowly.

"N-no…" she stuttered. Breathing was rather painful at this point and she suspected that tomorrow morning her back will be in a bit of pain. "If you will come tomorrow at three pm, they will stay unharmed…"

She stayed like that for several minutes, none of them speaking (and Kitsune not bashing Amy against the wall, much to Amy's relief) before Amy felt the vector tug her neck once again but this time she was thrown across the street to land painfully against the pavement.

She quickly got up and turned to look at Kitsune, who had a pondering expression on her face.

"If I won't return tonight, they will come here anyway," Amy quickly said, hoping that her bluff will work.

Luckily, it worked. Kistune snorted in disdain and turned around to leave. "Get the hell out of here," was all she said.

Amy watched her jump over the wall and disappear from sight. She hadn't given her a reply but her plan succeeded! Sure, she overlooked a major detail but she got epically lucky and the bruises on her back were damn worth it!

She silently cheered and congratulated herself at her success and turned around to leave. From now on it was beyond her control but she suspected that it will work out exactly as she planned.

Amy hastily made her leave, a barely visible bounce that wasn't there before in her steps.

* * *

Kitty sat on the floor next to Alex, who was obliviously sleeping, ignorant of what was going on in the waking world. Suddenly Kitty was greatly jealous of him.

Their small place of paradise might come to an end, not only theirs but Kaede and Nana's as well. Not only theirs, but for everyone who currently lived in this large house!

Should she leave them, to give their future, or should she stay, increasing their chances of survival but ruining the only safe place every one of them ever had?

Not finding the answers she was seeking, she slipped beneath the warm blanket and cuddled against Alex's warm body, resting her head on his shoulder, hoping that she might find some answers in her sleep, on her favorite pillow.

'_What the hell am I going to do?'_ she thought to herself but no one answered.

* * *

**Damn, what she will do? **

**Heh, I greatly enjoyed writing this one. It was so refreshing, simply for the fact that i was actualy doing _something_ other than lying in an uncomfortable bed. So refreshing. Anyway, i loved writing this and i think it came out pretty fine! I want to thank you for reading this and to all those who reviewed! Opinions, constructive criticism, ideas and even suggestions are pleasently welcomed! Thanks for reading this! :D Until next time!  
**


	12. The decision

**Hello there! I have good new (for some bad) that the story is nearing it's final chapter! I wont say how many exactly, but im planning on finishing it by the 26th this month! Why the 26th? Because it will be the one year anniversery of this story! Hard to believe that almost a year ago i started writing this story and now im about to finish it. Also hard to believe that it took me a damn year... Anyway, now that im finally out of the hospital, which was bordom incarnate im going to fully invest my time to finish this story by the 26th so soon enough, you will see the last chapter. Some may be saddened by this, i think ill be sad as well since i had (still having) much fun writng this but anyway, its not over yet! I still have several more chapter to write so no worries. Anyway, enjoy this chapter because i had damn too much fun writing it!**  


* * *

Alex opened his eyes to see Kitty hovering above him. He waited several seconds for her to say something, or do something but nothing came. Eventually he just raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner but she still hadn't said anything.

"Uh, Kitty?" he mumbled but to his surprise, instead of answering she silenced him with a deep and passionate kiss.

Something was off in this situation, that was what Alex thought at that moment, or at least as much as his just-awoken brain allowed him to think. Kitty never kissed him like this; there was something…needy in the way she did it this time. He would've continued thinking of the situation if Kitty hadn't saddled on top of him and enhanced the intensity of her kisses.

He broke contact with her, as much as he tried he was curious and he wouldn't mind finding out why she jumped him like that all of a sudden. "Good morning to you too! Why waking me up like this?" he asked her.

She looked at him for several seconds, slightly panting. "Just…just shut the hell up," she finally said and buried him with another deep kiss.

Under normal circumstances Alex would've never shut up but considering that they were both naked and a certain lower body part of Kitty's was rubbing against a certain lower body part of his, basically all thoughts that he might've had were absurdly clouded and muffled for the time being. Instead of trying to clear his mind he wrapped his arms around her, bringing her closer to himself and kissed her back with the same passion.

'_Damn, I love such mornings!'_ he mused to himself before wincing when Kitty bit his lower lip a bit too forcefully.

* * *

"Okay, so let me get this. Today our target will meet us at three, which will be in just four hours, and will allow us to take her without a bloodbath?" O'Brian asked somewhat incredulously while everyone else looked at Amy skeptically.

Amy on her part stood in front of them with a triumphant smirk on her face. "Yep, no bloodbath," _'I hope'_ she finished in her mind. "If she will come, and I'm sure that she will, we can avoid a bloodbath and if it will come to that…you got me."

O'Brian and the others still looked somewhat skeptical. Mike just shook his head and muttered something about sneaky girls and frowned at her.

"And what if she won't come?" Andrew finally asked, voicing what everyone had on their mind.

"We come to her, simple as that," the young dicloni said. Several moments of silence passed between the group who were currently sitting in their hotel suite, until the Sergeant finally shook his head and stood up.

"Well then, in that case I guess we should make the preparations for the capture. Arm yourself in any case I don't want to risk our necks here. You're all dismissed, we're leaving in two hours and I've got several calls to make," Andrew said and left the room.

The group dispersed, everyone going to make their preparations for the much possibly dangerous mission ahead of them. Mike walked up to Amy and motioned her to one of the rooms. Amy obediently followed him and once inside, Mike sat on the bed and looked at the girl with a frown.

"So you _did_ know where she was all along," it was more a statement than a question. Amy showed no reaction to that.

"Yes, I had my own reasons for that," she replied, knowing that there was no point to deny that any longer. Besides, if her target, Kitsune, wont show up, they will just come after her like she promised they will. So far she hadn't sensed that she left her house, in fact, everything seemed the same, which was a good sign.

"I don't blame you or anything, I just hope those reasons were damn good," Mike said and looked out of the window.

'_More than you know…I just possibly saved your asses,'_she mused before smiling at him. "Don't worry, everything will work out fine. She will come," she assured the soldier.

"Nah, I'm not worried about that, we will come to her if she wont show up today, just like you said," he waved off her words and Amy frowned. Should she tell him that if she won't come today they will have to face three dicloni instead of one?

She smirked at that thought. She will keep that small detail away from the meanwhile. To see their faces when they will find out might be worth that.

* * *

Kaede noticed something strange. While some people, the most prominent of them was Alex, called her lazy because she spent most of her time doing nothing. Well, she didn't consider it as nothing.

Right now Kaede was once again sitting in the garden pondering (wasting time as Alex called it) about…everything. She never found the TV to be interesting, unlike Nana and Mayu, and she honestly didn't have any other things to do other than waiting for Kohta or cooking something. The male dicloni claimed that they were doing pretty much the same thing, only he slept during his naps while Kaede stayed awake.

It was pretty odd as she found it. She never met anyone who was so…easy going when conversing with her. Hell, he was even flirting with her sometimes and even though she knew he wasn't serious about it, since Kitty still hasn't maimed him for his attempts, she was still touched. He treated her like a normal person, something that only Kohta did. She was treated as a freak for her whole life and finding people who treated her like a normal person was a blessing. She was actually surprised that she found herself considering Alex and Kitty as friends now, something that was hard to accomplish for her.

Even after two years living here her relationships with everyone else who resided in the house weren't that perfect. She did consider Nana as her friend now but she knew that Nana will never forget what she did to her, no matter how much Kaede regretted that. She took her ability to feel anything and Kaede felt that she didn't deserve forgiveness from her anyway.

Mayu was nice and polite with her, though somewhat strained at first when she returned as Kaede and not as her stupid self designated as Nyu. Mayu eventually got used to her though and now she was on good terms with her, though there is still room for improvements. As for Yuka…the thought of the woman made Kaede smirk. She knew that Yuka was still rather pissed that Kaede 'stole her Kohta', regardless how much she claimed that she got over it Kaede _knew_ that Yuka was still pissed. The fact that the woman drowned herself in her studies and job proved it.

As for Kitty and Alex…she found herself actually liking the company, in an odd way. They didn't bother her at all, left her alone unless they actually needed to speak with her and didn't have any oddness about them, with the exception of Alex.

Alex was the odd one of the pair. He admitted that Kaede scared the crap out of him, but hadn't showed any hint of being nervous around her. In fact, he openly annoyed her, flirted with her and even told jokes at her expense. That was an entirely new experience for her and she found that she didn't mind that much.

Kitty…she was the collected one. She spoke to Kaede with respect and carefulness, obviously slightly nervous around her. She usually stayed with Alex and spent pretty much all her time with him. Sometimes Kaede found herself smiling at the sight of the couple, napping in the sun that showered the gardens during the day. Gladly for Kaede they stopped making such a ruckus during the night…

Today though, Kitty acted differently. Kaede found herself observing the young woman, at first out of curiosity but now out of concern. She noticed it right after she and Alex came down from their room and while Alex was wearing that shit-eating satisfied grin of his, Kitty was more…distant. The young woman pretty much wasn't there. She hadn't said a word ever since they came down and practically ignored everyone as she just sat there in the living room or walking around, often checking the old clock. It looked like Kitty had something on her mind, and that something was something big.

Kaede frowned again as she saw Kitty walk by the clock again. Deciding that she had enough, and she was curious now, she stood up and walked over to the younger woman.

"Kitty," Kaede said. Kitty stopped in her tracks and curiously looked at the older dicloni.

"Yeah? What do you need?" she asked.

"I want to ask you something," Kaede replied and motioned her to follow. Kitty did as she was told and followed her into the garden.

Once there she took a seat on the ground and Kitty took a seat next to her, watching Kaede with a raised eyebrow.

"Today you seem to be distant. You haven't talked to anyone and you look like you're worried about something," Kaede stated and noted the rather surprised look that appeared on Kitty's face.

"No, I don't know what you mean, everything's fine," she said and something told Kaede that she wasn't telling the whole truth.

"Then why can't you keep your eyes off the clock? Are you waiting for something?" Kaede insisted. Kitty hugged her legs close to her and looked at the distance, or more accurately, at nothing in particular.

"Its nothing you should worry about, so don't worry about it," Kitty said to her as she gave her a determined glance. "It has nothing to do with you anyway so…don't worry."

Kaede raised an eyebrow at that determined look. Shaking her head she stood up and began walking away, knowing that she wont get anything else from Kitty. "Whatever," she said, "if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask."

Kitty watched the older dicloni leave and when she was out of sight she released a heavy sigh. Kaede suspected something and the concern that was evident in her voice surprised Kitty. Kaede was always distant, the only exception being Kohta, and for her to show such concern for her made Kitty feel…warm inside. It surprised her to see how attached she became to everyone who was in her life now, the residents of the house and most particularly, Alex. Thinking about the young man made her sigh again.

She didn't want to know how he will react once she was gone, or if the soldier will come here and wreck the only safe place they now had. She didn't want to leave but…what choice did she have? Should she be happy with Alex at the price of a safe home and the life of her new friends? She didn't know. She had only questions, questions and once again question – and no answers whatsoever.

She didn't know where that bridge was but she didn't have to anyway. She could still sense where that other diclonius was and follow the trail. As long as she was on the bridge, finding it won't be a problem at all. Regardless, she already made up her mind.

With another sigh, she stood up and walked inside. She was about to head upstairs to her room when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist.

"Hey, what's up with you today? Worried again?" Alex said behind her.

Kitty turned around and gave him a quick kiss and a beaming smile. "No, everything's fine, I was about to head upstairs to catch a quick nap so don't worry yourself about me," she said to him.

"Huh, taking after me I see," he said with a grin, "Why would you want to nap all of a sudden?"

"Heh, I just have a small headache, nothing to worry about. It will pass soon," she replied.

"Okay, ill be in the living room if you need anything," Alex said and gave her a peck on the cheek and left her alone.

Kitty watched him go for several moments before sighing again and walking upstairs.

* * *

"Alright, we're in position," O'Brian said as he looked around at the double bridge. Something about the bridge made him uneasy. Just two years ago another dicloni slaughtered a whole platoon of soldiers here, a powerful bomb blew up half of it and just several months ago it was repaired, the blood washed away and it was opened to public. Well, not now. After making several calls to the right people, for the next three hours the bridge was 'closed for repairs', leaving it completely void of life with the exception of the armed team that stood in the middle of it. Andrew would've chuckled at the irony that the bridge was closed for repairs, considering that the chances of a fight were high, if the situation wasn't as dire as it was.

Each one of them, with the exception of the little girl (who could take care of herself) were armed to the teeth and O'Brian thought they might be able to take on a small platoon with the amount of ammo they brought with them.

Derrick was not with them right now, not that he was needed right here. The sergeant took a look at a building on the other side of the bridge, seeing the small silhouette of a man sitting on the roof. In case the situation went bad Derrick will snipe down their target. Hopefully it won't come to that in the first place but one could never be too careful.

Jack and Mike were leaning against the railing, Amy sitting on the ground beside them, seemingly meditating while O'Brian was pacing around, obviously skeptical of the whole plan.

"Is she coming? Don't you have the whole sensing thing going on between you?" Jack asked the little girl.

Amy showed no reaction that she even heard him and for several moments everyone waited in silence for some sort of reaction. After a couple of minutes she finally opened her eyes and looked straight at the sergeant. "She will come," she said shortly.

O'Brian offered her a nod, which she returned, and gave a look at Derrick's direction. He took out the radio device. "Be ready," he said through the radio.

"_Roger, ill notify you if I catch sight of the target_," Derrick responded.

"Good," he said and returned the radio into his vest pocket. "Alright people, don't fall asleep here! We have this bridge for three more hours and I'm not going to waste them!" he called, actually making Mike jump out with surprise at the sudden shout.

* * *

Alex sat on the couch, a look of indifference on his face as he watched the TV. No matter how hard he searched, there was currently nothing to do at all.

"Fucking talk shows…nothing to see at all. Shitty cable TV…" he muttered in a disgusted tone and tossed the remote control to the waiting hands of Nana, who thanked him with a beaming smile.

The channel changed before Alex could even blink and instead of the oh so boring talk show was now a series about cops. He groaned as he saw that. In his opinion good TV was extinct. Everything was recycled nowadays and finding anything new and original to watch was close to impossible.

"The remote is now in your hands, do with it whatever you want," he said tastelessly and got up from the couch. Nana looked at him curiously. "You're not going to watch?" she asked.

"I've been watching TV for four years now. I've seen pretty much everything and they're not bothering on showing me something new. Have fun!" he said as he walked away. From what Kohta told him the TV was a pretty new thing here. When he just moved into this place they had nothing of the like here and they pretty much bought everything else during the two years that they lived here. That meant that Nana still saw the wonders of TV as an interesting thing.

He wandered through the house for several minutes, searching for something to do. He wasn't in the mood to cook anything, as he found out already the TV was a no-go, Kaede was currently 'busy' with Kohta who returned half an hour ago, Yuka wasn't here, Mayu was still at school and Nana was watching the TV.

"Bah, I guess ill go join Kitty in that nap…" he muttered and his frown turned into a full-blown grin when he thought of what that nap might turn into.

He moved up the stairs and headed to their room as quietly as he could. He silently opened the door, just in case Kitty was asleep and he didn't want to wake her (yet) but when the door opened he didn't find Kitty inside,

Frowning to himself he looked through the room for a moment and then quickly left to search through the other rooms Kitty might've gone to. It took him only several minutes to search through the entire second floor but when he was through there was no sign of Kitty at all and he returned to the room, now a bit worrying about her whereabouts.

He heavily collapsed on the futon and looked around. As far as he knew, Kitty didn't come down and if she had, he would've noticed that. Eventually his eyes fell on a piece of paper that was on the night-stand. Raising an eyebrow he picked it up and when he started reading his eyes widened even more.

'_Alex, im sorry I didn't tell you anything. I had no choice in this case. I don't want to ruin your life another time. You did so much for me and never asked for anything in return and cant and I don't think that I will ever be able to thank you enough for what you did for me. Please don't follow me because if you will, all this will be for nothing. I don't want to risk you or anyone else and if anything will happen to you I won't be able to live with myself. Please forgive me for this and don't follow me. I love you.'_

Alex read through the note several times, just to make sure he was really reading it and all the while he had a blank expression on his face. He concentrated for several seconds and he began sensing something. He sensed Nana and Kaede, who were in the house but Kitty wasn't anywhere near. In fact she was pretty far away and quite close to, and heading in the direction of…the other dicloni.

It only took his mind several seconds to put everything together. His face hardened at the realization. The reason why Kitty was so distant today, why she was so needy this morning, everything was clear now. He also realized why the unknown diclonius was for so long in town and why Kitty was heading her way.

"That idiot," he whispered to himself.

* * *

"She's here," Amy announced and everyone who heard her tensed.

Several minutes passed when O'Brian's radio crackled and Derrick's voice announced that he had the target in sight. Everyone stood up and waited in silence until finally they saw a lone female figure walk towards them.

She walked to them calmly, an air of serenity surrounding her, something which slightly unnerved the sergeant. She eventually stopped around thirty feet from them and Amy walked forward to meet her.

"I'm glad to see that you chose smartly," Amy said with a smile. To everyone's surprise the young woman smiled and chuckled in return.

"I'm not sure it was so smart, really. Alex would've probably slapped me to oblivion if he knew what I was doing right now," she said. Amy raised an eyebrow at that, getting a weird feeling in her gut.

"I see…" she muttered and took a couple of steps back. "So what did you choose?" she asked, feeling that this was going to turn badly, if the odd smile that Kitsune wore was any indication.

"The third," she said and snickered when she saw Amy's raised eyebrow. "You said that they didn't know where the others are," she explained and O'Brian perked up when he heard others being mentioned, "so I came to a conclusion. If they don't know where they are, than ill just have to kill you all."

"Shit," O'Brian muttered and cocked his rifle and took aim.

The air suddenly picked up around the young woman, seemingly spinning around her and Andrew took note that the same was happening to Amy. Then O'Brian realized that he was about to witness a fight between two diclonius. He subconsciously gulped and took several steps back. He knew what a dicloni could do but he never saw how they fought one of their kind. He didn't know whether to consider himself lucky or the opposite.

"Help me out here," Amy said to him and the sergeant understood what she wanted. Their mission was to capture her, alive and in one piece. Kitsune wasn't about to allow them to do that. Behind him he heard Mike and Jack cock their rifles.

* * *

Kaede was sitting with Kohta in the kitchen, both drinking a cup of tea when she suddenly felt it. At first she hadn't understood what was going on and Kohta noticed her surprised look and asked her what the matter was but she didn't have an answer. She felt a dicloni, right above her and it was impossible to miss. Another reason why it was impossible to miss was the amount of power it broadcasted.

She stood up and walked out of the kitchen into the corridor about at the same time as Nana, who came out of the living room. They both walked into the corridor just in time to see a seething Alex come down the stairs, obviously the source of the dicloni signature they both sensed.

"Alex, what's wrong?" Nana worriedly asked, voicing the question that played on Kaede's mind. Kaede had to agree, in the week she knew Alex she never saw him like this. She saw him pissed, especially when they just met but not like this. He was absurdly furious about something. She watched him as he picked up his jacket from the coat hanger and quickly put it on, hinting that he was about to leave.

Alex didn't answer, instead he all but shoved a piece of paper into her hands and walked out into the garden, followed by Nana and Kohta who saw the infuriated look on the young man's face. Kaede followed him into the garden, not fully understanding but Alex didn't slow down and kept on walking. Kohta tried to stop him but much to his surprise and shock, Alex crouched and both Nana and Kaede saw no less than eight vectors materialize from his back and all but punch the ground around him.

Like a freakish rocket, Alex jumped into the air, tearing the ground while sending dirt into the air and with the help of his vectors he easily jumped at least twenty feet into the air and quickly disappeared from view. Poor Kohta, who didn't expect such an abrupt leaving method fell back in surprise, landing on the now-torn ground, looked at the spot that once held Alex in surprise.

He wasn't alone in that regard. Both Kaede and Nana looked surprised. There wasn't an explanation to why he left like that, and he didn't provide one…other than the piece of paper. Kaede looked at it and quickly read it, her eyes widening as she read it.

"What's that?" Nana asked with so much seriousness in her voice that Kohta looked a ther with surprise evident in his eyes. Kaede simply handed her the letter and watched as Nana had the same reaction she had.

"Let's go," Nana said when she finished reading, receiving a nod from Nana.

"Wait, what's going on? I'm coming with you," Kohta said, not understanding a thing in what just transpired. Nana gave him the latter and followed Kaede who was already making her way to the gate. Quickly reading the letter Kohta handed it back to Nana and followed Kaede with a determined look on her glance.

Unlike Alex, who all but ruined a section of their garden in a rather explosive manner, the trio left the house through the gate and hurriedly made their way to Kitty's location.

* * *

It happened too fast. O'Brian wasn't able to react fast enough, or see it clearly enough and all of a sudden, before he realized, the battle was on.

Kitsune charged and when she got too close Amy suddenly jumped back and the place where she stood suddenly exploded, creating a small concrete in the place where she stood. Kitsune on her part jumped into the sky, too high to be humanly possible, when the ground was suddenly ripped apart as though something tried to slash her and missed.

O'Brian had a small problem in this situation. He watched as Kitsune and Amy chased each other and the only indication that they were actually fighting were the occasional craters and miniature explosion whenever one of their vectors missed and hit the road instead. The sarge, and probably everyone else from his team, understood at that moment that they couldn't actually see the whole battle and wouldn't be able to fully help Amy. That, regardless of any difficulties, was not going to stop him from trying though.

"Open fire!" he barked and everyone complied. He himself aimed at her legs, just in case, and pulled the trigger at the same time with his teammates.

Bullets rained down upon Kitsune but all of the bullets simply bounced off on a seemingly invisible barrier but they knew better. Still, that didn't stop them and now, with their added support, Amy was beginning to take the upper hand. At least that was what they saw.

Then, to their surprise, they saw Amy suddenly fly back, as if she was just hit with a fast moving truck. She flew back ten feet at the least and landed painfully on her back but it wasn't enough to put her down and she quickly jumped back on her feet and charged the older dicloni.

Kitsune jumped back, all the while blocking assault rifle bullets, and avoided a vector that was about to cut her across the stomach. She retaliated with a punching vector that Amy easily sidestepped and countered with her own vector-punch that Kitty swatted aside.

Kitty quickly realized that she was at a disadvantage. Her vector reached only three and a half meters but Amy's, as it seemed, were reaching as far as six meters, almost as twice as long as hers. Not only that, but Amy had six vectors, compared to Kitty's four. If that was not a disadvantage, she could only add the soldiers that kept firing at her that forced her to use her vectors to block bullets and leaving herself open for attacks from Amy. She realized that the battle ahead of her was going to be hard.

Kitty entered a series of swipes that Amy countered by catching with her own vectors and attacking with a pair of vectors from her right side. Due to her shorter vector range, in order to attack she had to enter Amy's range and that worked against her. She wasn't able to release her vectors in time and ended up having to take the punch to the ribs.

The air was blasted out of her lungs as she felt the rib-cracking punch hit her and send her flying through the air. The landing wasn't as painful though. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to catch her breath as Amy was upon her already.

Before Amy could land a single hit three pieces of concrete were torn from the road and launched her way. She managed to black two of them but the third one slipped through and crashed against her leg, sending her into a half summersault to land on her back.

All the while, O'Brian and his team were releasing clip after clip at their target but they didn't manage to hit her even once. As ordered, Derrick held fire until ordered to do so. O'Brian could help but marvel the way they moved around the bridge, sending pieces of the bridge they stood upon as projectiles to hit each other.

* * *

Alex was pissed, and that was an understatement. He couldn't remember himself being this angry before, no, not even angry, but furious! Any more he would be screaming 'RAGE' and would start smashing random cars around the street but that was already an overkill and besides, he will look like an idiot if he will do it.

Right now he was literally flying through the streets, leaving hand imprints on the road, roofs and sometimes even cars. It was a travelling method that he rarely used. Using his vectors to keep himself suspended in the air while pushing himself onwards. In other words, he was walking with his vectors.

He was making good time though; he sensed that Kitty was a lot closer now. He ignored the surprised shouts of civilians as he flew past them and the angry shouts of car owners that he accidently crushed when he placed his vector on them.

As he moved on he managed to ascertain where Kitty was and the choice of location slightly surprised him but it was rather logical to him after he thought it over. The bridge had only two ways out and water from both sides.

Regardless of that fact, he had to get there fast and distracting himself with thoughts will not help him in the least. He 'jumped' on several cars and from there into the wall of a house (tearing parts of it when his vectors grasped the wall) and took it to he roofs.

Soon enough the bridge came into sight.

* * *

Kitty flew back, having the air punched out of her lungs with the help of a punch from Amy. She flew back through the air and managed to twist herself through the air to land on her feet but before she could mount a defense Amy was already upon her.

A vector swept her legs from under her and she felt herself go airborne, and then swatted aside like an annoying fly. After that, she felt a crushing pain go through her back as she hit the bridge's railings and then the worst thing possible happened. A stray bullet (if it can be called stray in that regard) flew right through her weakened defense and hit her right in the thigh.

She screamed in pain, and jumped to the side with the help of her vectors just as more rounds pelted the area she has just been at. Due to her wounded thigh, and the pain the injury caused, her vectors were immensely weakened. Due to that fact, Amy easily overpowered her vectors and Kitty felt a vector wrap around her neck and no matter how much she used her own vectors to try and get free, it was futile. She felt herself being pulled off the ground and into the air and then, to her horror, being thrown at full speed into the ground.

The force of the impact created a miniature crater and several pieces of concrete and dust were sent into the air. Kitty felt like she broke all her ribs with that hit and if the fact that she could barely breathe now was any indication, it was probably true. Luckily for her the gunfire stopped at that moment and she didn't have to fear any bullets hitting her. She tried getting up but before she could even move a muscle a fast moving vector buried itself into her stomach, blasting out the already-lacking air in her lungs.

She just lied there, out of breath and out of strength, beaten and bleeding and not able to even manifest a single vector in this point. Her vision was swimming and the edges of it were already darkening. She saw the blurred form of Amy standing above her, breathing heavily after exerting herself in the battle. Kitty managed to cough several times but somewhere in the middle it turned into a groan of pain and she tasted the familiar taste of blood in her mouth.

O'Brian breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her go down. The bridge was rather damaged by this point, with several areas where the railing was all but missing and several areas that held wounds ranging from craters to long gashes of missing asphalt. They all stood still and waited for Amy to say if it was safe enough to move. He lowered his weapon though and reached to the pouch that was on his belt, which held a syringe with enough sedatives to put down a horse. They couldn't disable her vectors so that meant they will keep her in an unconscious state until they deliver her back to the institute.

Amy was obviously tired and she had her hands place on her knees while she was panting. She gave O'Brian a look and he noticed that she had a swollen lip and some blood trailing down from a wound on her forehead. She gave him a nod, which he returned and all the team lowered their weapons and walked to the downed dicloni. By that time Amy took several steps back to them, creating some distance between herself and Kitsune.

Unfortunately to O'Brian and his team, exactly according to the Law of Murphy, his radio suddenly crackled.

"_Sir, something's coming your way, I don't know what the fuck tha-"_ Derrick all but shouted through the radio but O'Brian didn't hear him finish, because he managed to see a _flying man_ in dark clothing dropping as if he was shot out of a cannon to land right in front of them.

And then the world exploded.  


* * *

**Hah, what a way to end this chapter, eh? Hopefully, it wont confuse you, or anything of the likes. So anyway, it was very fun writing this chapter and the next chapter will be even better! I hope ill have more time like today and if i will, ill be able to update this tory within three days from now, so thats pretty good. Thanks for reading this story and all the compliments you left me in your reviews. I'm very flattered and glad that you like it. Constructive criticism, suggestions and opinions are very welcomed here and feel free to leave them in a review or a pm, whatever fits you. Thanks for all the reviews and just for reading this! Until next time, which will be soon, that i can promise you, Delvaro out.**


	13. Sacrifice

**Awesome! I updated the story so soon. Makes me feel happy now :P. Oddly enough, i finished this chapter yesterday but i uploaded it today, you know, for the sake of suspension. Aaanyway, i really loved writing this chapter and i hope you'll like it just as much as i do. So, without any further delays, have fun!**  


* * *

Without any warning whatsoever O'Brian suddenly found himself flying through the air after feeling like someone slammed a sledgehammer into his chest. He landed on his back and the vibrations that passed through his vest told him that he skidded on the ground for several more feet. When he finally stopped he shook his head to clear the cobwebs and when his vision cleared he saw that he wasn't alone in this situation. Hell, pretty much everyone, the main exception being their target, Kitsune, was thrown back by the sudden explosion (or landing? He saw that guy falling down at amazing speeds after all…).

Looking now at the spot that supposedly exploded he could see a large dust cloud in the air and on the road all around them were scattered pieces of asphalt and other debris.

"_Andrew? Are you there? What the fuck just happened?"_ he heard Derrick almost shout at him through the radio.

Said sergeant would've answered if he actually knew what the fuck happened. Well, if he planned on finding out he wouldn't have to wait for long because that dust cloud was starting to settle down. As the cloud was becoming less and less tangible and was becoming easy to see through he could see a new figure standing there, but it was only a silhouette.

When the cloud finally did settle down he could only widen his eyes in surprise. In the place where they stood only moments ago was a small crater and the ground in front of it was all but shredded into gravel. There stood the target's accomplice, named Alex if he remembered correctly. Right now he was crouching near Kitsune, saying something to her that was out of the reach of his ears.

* * *

Kitty more felt than saw the 'explosion'. Her weakened body felt the tremor that passed through the ground and then her already impaired vision was blocked by some sort of a cloud. When the cloud finally settled she could see a person in front of her but even with a hazy vision and a close-to-unconsciousness mind she could easily recognize Alex.

"You idiot…why didn't you tell me anything?" he said, his voice barely above a whisper. If her vision wasn't so blurry, she would've see the expression of deep hurt that was on his face.

"A-Alex…" she whispered to him.

Alex just sighed. She will never know how it hurt to see her like this and how much it hurt to know that she hadn't shared this problem with him. She decided to leave them, leave _him_, so she could surrender herself (or as it seemed, attempt to kill every one of them) back to the institute and she hadn't said a word to him! Right now he felt betrayed, hurt and most importantly, epically pissed.

"God damn it, Kitty. Why?" he asked her, wiping away with his thumb a trail of blood that was leaking from her bruised lip, hoping that she will be able to answer.

"I didn't want you…to get hurt," she replied hoarsely, evidently with much pain.

Alex just shook his head and shushed her down. "Don't worry, I'm here now and nothing will happen to you," he promised. He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips and stood up.

Now standing up, Alex proceeded to take off his jacket, dropping it near the lying Kitty and then emptied his pockets and dropped it on the jacket. After that, he turned around to look at the soldiers and a young dicloni. He held himself in check (for now) and fought off the urge to just charge and pound their heads into a mush.

* * *

"Sir, it's the kid," Jack muttered when he walked to stand beside him. Andrew nodded in return and looked at the kid, who now looked at them with cold fury playing in his eyes.

Something told him that this guy wasn't exactly…normal. After all, what kind of a normal man drops out of the sky all of a sudden?

"Kid, get the hell out of here, this is none of your business! Do as I say and you won't get hurt," O'Brian called. Alex gave close to no response at the shout, only directing his cold fury at the sergeant.

"Oh, this is my business alright. I thought I told you to leave us alone?" he said, directing the question at Jack.

"You know we can't do that…" Jack replied.

"Yeah yeah. It's your job, you get paid for it. I know all that shit. Well now, let's say that it's my job to keep this girl here safe," Alex said in all seriousness, pointing at the injured Kitty. "Now, get the fuck out of here, and you won't get hurt."

O'Brian narrowed his eyes at the guy. Something, he called it his gut feeling, told him that the kid could follow his threat. He subconsciously tightened his grip on his rifle. Meanwhile, Alex shifted his cold glare at Amy, who actually flinched, much to the sergeant's surprise. The young man simply snorted at her sight and shook his head in a way that seemed like…disappointment.

"You know that we can't do that either," Andrew replied.

"Just as I thought. Well then, one last question: do you have a medic?" Alex asked with his expression turning into one of curiosity.

Andrew glanced at Mike, who had the proper training that qualified him as a field medic. Why would he want to know that? Unless…

"Nope, we don't," O'Brian answered. "Why did you want to know that?"

"Oh, you'll see…" Alex muttered and fought to hide a grin. He did notice the brief glance the man who was obviously the leader of the group shot the other man, that was enough to tell him who the medic was. If there was anything that he learned, it was that TV could be somewhat useful. One of the truest things he saw was that if you take out the medic, the army was doomed. And besides, he had personal reasons for wanting the medic. He took a last glance at Kitty, who had fallen unconscious by now, much to his displeasure because she won't see him kick their asses. The sight of her broken and injured body was enough for him to summon all the resolve – and anger – to kick their asses.

"Well…you wanted a fight…" he all but sneered at them, "I'll fucking give you a fight!" he shouted and to the surprise of everyone, like a cannonball out of a cannon, he launched himself at him, several spots on the ground behind him simply exploding.

Practically no one managed to react in time. Amy was simply swatted aside like an annoying fly, the only thing saving her from an injury was the vector she placed to cushion the impact. To the surprise of O'Brian, Alex didn't go after Amy, like Kitty did before him, but he saw his target. He was making a beeline at Mike.

Before either O'Brian or Jack could do anything, they felt a crushing force impact their chests, sending them once again flying through the air. Compared to the rest of his team Mike was rather lucky. Instead of a vector he received a full blown punch to his face. Alex smiled when he felt the satisfying crack beneath his felt, letting him know that the nose was now broken.

Mike fell back; the sheer force of the punch coupled with the speed Alex was moving at was enough to make the punch into a crushing force. Mike clutched his broken nose, blood leaking out in a frightening pace and through teary eyes he saw Alex approaching him casually.

"Honestly, I hate killing. I don't like doing it and I did it only once. That being said, I won't kill you. But it doesn't mean that I can't _break_ you…" He said with a cold calm that send a shudder down Mike's spine, right before he received a vicious kick to the face.

Alex casually crouched near the groaning soldier and started sifting through the contents of his medical pouch. He sifted through it, noting that the guy made it absurdly easy to identify what was what with tags which were attached to various pockets within the pouch, like 'bandages', 'instruments' and finally, what he was looking for 'painkillers'.

He took out a small syringe, filled with whatever it was (he didn't really care as long as it did its job, a dangerous thing to do but he didn't really care), and plunged it into his neck and pushed the plunger, just like he learned to do years ago.

Andrew watched the scene in confusion. How the hell did this just do that? He felt some force punch him, more or less, and the only one he knew who could do such thing were…his eyes widened when he finally figured it out. The oddest thing was that he had thought that diclonius were exclusively females and this guy didn't have any horns. Just who was this guy?

"Who the hell are you?" Jack groaned, as he sat up, leveling his rifle as he did so. Alex took out the syringe with a wince and threw it away and chuckled when he heard Jack's question. There was no humor in that laugh.

"Test subject Prototype Alpha-One, but you can call me Alex," he answered with a humorless smile. "Now, that were done talking, I suggest you should defend yourselves," he stated and the air picked up around him, just like it happened to Kitsune just several minutes ago.

Amy watched the scene with a face that was a mixture of fascination, curiosity and horror. She watched as slowly, eight vectors manifested themselves from his back. The fact that he was a male and that she hadn't sensed him earlier and she was sensing him now and what she felt was not something she liked was enough for her to start worrying. She knew that she was in a bad situation immediately. She was tired from her fight with Kitsune and he all but knocked out Mike and she was rather surprised to find that she was actually worrying about the human.

Mike surprised everyone though. He pulled out a handgun faster than everyone could see and aimed straight at Alex's head and pulled the trigger. A gunshot thundered through the air and it seemed that everything froze in anticipation and heavy silence surrounded the area.

Alex though, simply looked at him curiously, the bullet hovering mere inches from his left eye. "That's interesting, pretty awesome actually," he said, "though I shouldn't allow you to do this stunt again," he finished and with an absurdly loud, sickening crack Mike's hand was twisted into an impossible angle, dropping the gun. He screamed in and started clutching his broken wrist in agony and all the while, Alex stood there, watching him with an air of indifference surrounding him, the bullet still hovering. Everyone was frozen for several seconds, just watching in shock.

"Don't touch him!" Amy screamed and charged at Alex, surprising even herself with her action.

Six vectors shot at Alex but he easily and swiftly jumped back out of each, inspecting her vector ranger. Alex had to hurry here. He already took the painkillers and he was starting to feel its effect already, the odd numb sensation in the back of his head. If his estimations were true, luckily they usually were, he had around six to eight minutes before the pain from using so many vectors will start affecting his performance. Even if he didn't feel the pain, it didn't say that there was nothing wrong. He could only guess what kind of a headache he will have after this small 'adventure'.

"Your range is six meters and you have six vectors. My range is eight meters and I use eight vectors right now. You are tired and I'm at full strength and I hold the obvious advantage here," he stated, watching her as she took a protective stance in front of the injured Mike. "You better give up girl."

"Fuck you," was her retort and Alex couldn't but smile at that. At least the girl had some character; regardless that she was a bitch right now.

"Very well," he said and charged. At that time gunfire was heard and bullets suddenly bounced off, some stopped altogether on his vectors but he didn't give them a glance, his target was the dicloni.

At that moment Amy took note of something odd going on. Ignoring the fact that she was protecting a human right now, regardless of how nice he was. The enemy in front of her as using a certainly unorthodox method of fighting: Six of his vectors were spinning around him like slithering snakes, protecting him from bullets. Nothing was weird with that but the last two were wrapped around his arms and she couldn't find any reason for him to do so. He had her at a disadvantage here, his reach was longer, as she saw when she dodged a low swipe from his vectors, and he had more vectors than her.

She got her answer when he dashed straight into her ranger and then into her personal space. She saw him pull his fist back and then launch it at her. She responded by sending a vector at it, keen on cutting the arm off but much to her surprise the vector that was wrapped against the arm simply brushed her vectors aside, leaving the arm completely unscathed. Caught completely off-guard she didn't anticipate the punch – real punch – that was buried into her stomach. The force of the punch sent her tumbling backwards and she coughed several times when she finally came to a stop but she still managed to get up again, only to see him casually standing there, ignoring the hail of bullets that was raining down on him.

The soldiers on their part looked rather surprised that he had no problems with punching a child that was younger than him by almost five years.

"Hah, works every time. I bet you didn't expect that, didn't you?" he asked her, that humorless smile still on his face. "That's why I can beat practically every dicloni. You have no originality whatsoever; it's always cut this and throw that. I just fucking punched you with my bony fist," he finished and charged again.

This time she was ready and countered with her own swipe. She wasn't allowed to kill Kitsune, but nothing was said about this guy and now her attacks were aimed to kill, not some measly punches like she did with the woman. Three vectors swiped from the right to the left, creating a wall of death that was heading his way but he simply pushed himself upwards with his own vectors and launched himself over her. When he was passing above her, two of his vectors shot out at her. She jumped to the side just in time to avoid being crushed. She landed into a roll and retaliated by sending two of her vectors to cut him into ribbings and he countered by doing the same.

The vectors clashed together and they mangled, trying to bypass each other, or in Alex's case, capture. Unfortunately, Alex simply overwhelmed her with number by adding two more vectors into the battle, making that four against her two and when his vectors finally overpowered hers, the remaining two vectors swept low, hitting her in the legs.

The force of the hit sent her spinning through the air to land painfully on her head. In an aspiring show of sheer determination, she was up again and defending herself from a new onslaught of the male dicloni's vectors.

O'Brian knew that they were rather screwed right now. The guy outright ignored whatever they shot at him and he was overpowering Amy, who was currently flying back from a hit that Alex landed. He understood that he would have to resort to a different tactic. He pulled out a frag grenade and motioned to Jack to do the same, who gave him a nod and did as he was ordered.

"Amy, get to cover!" he shouted and threw the grenade.

Amy glanced at the team's direction and noticed the round objects flying through the air. Burying the vectors into the ground she launched herself into the air and landed out of the grenade's range.

The grenades landed several feet away from Alex, who widened his eyes at their sight. Against popular belief, vectors couldn't stop everything. Things like air, fire and even water or in this case, a shockwave, could easily move through them. While he will be safe from the shrapnel, the shockwave might still injure him.

O'Brian watched as the grenades detonated and sent debris and a small cloud of dust into the air. On second glance he noticed that there was too much dirt in the air and too much debris and when the clouds finally settled down his eyes – and pretty much everyone else's – widened at the sight before him.

A large section of the road was completely torn away, lifted up to serve as a small wall to defend against the grenades. A few seconds passed until Alex stepped into sight from behind the wall.

"Nice job. Too bad it won't work again," he remarked and charged the young dicloni again. "I have the whole bridge at my disposal," he said and gestured with his arms around him and then the makeshift wall was lifted into the air and was launched at the soldiers.

O'Brian and Jack jumped out of the way and were pelted with debris. Alex may have missed but the projectile served it's purpose of distracting them.

Amy tore out pieces of the of the road and sent them at him at neck breaking speeds but Alex simply dodged to the sides, making a zigzagging route to his adversary and when he wasn't fast enough, he blocked with his vectors.

O'Brian had to admit that he was rather amazed at the general sight before him. The young man, Alex, dodged pieces of road while moving at amazing speeds, tearing out his own pieces of the bridge and then, jumping into a summersault to land behind Amy and sent her flying headfirst into the railing, and after all that he barely looked even winded.

Amy though, shakily stood up, all the while panting. Her right eye was bruised and she was bleeding from her broken lip. Her limbs were aching; especially her legs and she suspected she had several ribs broken. She couldn't deny it, she was beaten here. She was tired when the fight started and just like he said, she was at a disadvantage.

Her musings were cut short when the male dicloni charged again, sending three vectors at her. She maneuvered her own vectors, all six of them, and caught his vectors in a tight grip, but much to her surprise, a fourth vector that she hadn't seen suddenly rose from the ground straight into her chin.

Her lower jaw was forcefully slammed against the upper, breaking one of the teeth with the force of the impact and her whole body was sent up, high into the air. Before she could even recover she felt another vector ensnare her legs and pull her down with so much force she felt it might tear them out.

She was slammed into the ground with a dull thud and after that, she didn't get up. Alex released her from his hold and wiped the sweat from his brow with a shaking hand. He paused when he noticed that. His hands were shaking, trembling even. That meant that the painkillers should stop helping him soon and after that the pain will come in full force. Even now he was feeling the dull, throbbing feeling in the back of his head, signaling him the price of using his vectors.

O'Brian cursed under his breath. Their dicloni was down and he doubted they will manage to take him down by themselves. Still, that didn't mean that they were finished. He leveled his rifle and took aim, right at the head. Of course, Alex saw that and the round that was fired didn't reach him. Jack joined in, opening fully automatic fire at the man but once again, all the bullets simply stopped in front of Alex, none of them making it through his barrier of vectors.

Alex resisted the urge to make a 'Matrix' comment on that but he decided to let it go, it wasn't the proper time for such things. He released all the bullets, who loudly clanged as they dropped on the ground, but left a single bullet in his grasp.

The bullet turned in the air and stopped, facing Jack. Jack managed to raise his eyebrows in surprise before the bullet silently, without any hint of a sound, zipped through the air right into Jack's right leg to come out from the other side. Jack yelped in surprise and pain and fell down when his leg couldn't hold his weight and grabbed the wound in attempt of stopping the bleeding.

Alex slowly approached the remaining soldier, his face blank. "Like I said, I won't kill you because I abhor (he chuckled when he used that word) such things, but I will defend myself and Kitty," he said to him when he was close enough for him to hear.

O'Brian then noticed something strange. While Amy hadn't managed to injure him in any way, or even hit him in that regard, the guy looked absolutely winded right now. His hands were shaking, and he was somewhat wobbly on his feet. Several beads of sweat ran down the side of his face. He would've thought more of this if he wasn't in such a situation and in a vector range of a dangerous person.

Alex was about to use a vector to backhand the sergeant into unconsciousness when a sudden, sharp and burning pain burst in his right shoulder. He also noticed several drops of blood flying from…his direction. He numbly stood there for several second, noting the surprised look that O'Brian now wore, until he looked down at his right shoulder.

Or what was left of it.

He had a gaping hole in his shoulder and it was leaking blood at a very frightening pace. The fact that he could feel the pain in every fiber of his body told him that the painkiller won't help him this time. Painkillers didn't save people from severe blood loss, and if he was feeling the pain it meant that the anesthetic was wearing off. He also noted that he couldn't summon a single vector now.

"Oh fuck…" he muttered as he watched the blood leak down from the gaping wound. "That asshole shot me," he hoarsely said and looked at O'Brian incredulously before falling on his back with a dull thud.

Andrew breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him fall down with a weak cry of 'ow', his wound splattering some blood on the road. He had completely forgotten about Derrick, who remained silent throughout the whole battle. Luckily, Derrick haven't forgotten himself and apparently, he just saved their asses.

"_Sir, are you alright?"_ Derrick asked and O'Brian could only shake his head.

"Yeah, were fine. Come over here, I'm going to call in the chopper," he replied and walked up to Alex.

Fuck, it hurt as hell. He tried getting up but his strength apparently decided to go to a vacation and his vectors decided to join. He couldn't move a muscle and whenever he tried his torn shoulder blasted him with hideous amounts of pain…and his head hurt, both from the use of vectors and from when he fell back. He tried summoning a single vectors but after several seconds with nothing happening he gave up.

Mike walked, more like staggered, to Jack, helping him up as much as he could with the use of a single arm. Jack gladly accepted the help and after several seconds of trying to get up they were both on their feet and limping to their sergeant.

"Fuck, what a monster," Mike said, his nose a bloody mess and wrist still bent awkwardly.

"I'm still fucking here you know!" Alex broke in, his voice slightly broken and right after he finished he entered a coughing fit, which ended with a groan. He spat out some blood and glared at the injured medic.

O'Brian reached out to his pouch to take out the sedatives. He didn't bring enough for the both of them but he will have to use whatever he had. He wondered if he will receive a bonus for bringing two instead of one.

"Listen…" Alex suddenly said hoarsely, the angered edge now gone from his voice and instead it now held something else. "I'm more valuable than her…leave her here. Once Kakuzawa will see me he will completely forget about her…"

Now O'Brian recognized what his tone now held. He was pleading.

"Please, just leave her and take me instead. I won't fight you any longer and Kakuzawa will fucking pay you double if you bring me in," he stated, breathing heavily now and the color left his face.

O'Brian had to hide his surprise at that. For all the time he worked here he heard only one thing: diclonius were uncaring monsters. They killed and they enjoyed it. So why was this man in front of him pleading for someone else's sake? It didn't add up at all.

Mike and Jack sent him questioning look, obviously leaving the honor of choosing up to him. He sighed in annoyance, wondering why he was the one to make these decisions. He would lie if he said he didn't care, because he was really curious now as to why this guy was willing to go back to the institute for her, even though it wasn't that hard to guess but what really made him doubt it was the fact that said was a diclonius, who were monsters incapable of any fond emotions as they were told. And the thought of getting paid double was tempting.

"Please, if you want me to fucking beg you, I'll do it," Alex hissed, now visibly angering. "Consider it as my last request…don't be a fucking asshole and leave her, tell them she's dead."

The sound of rotors caused them to look up to see the helicopter that brought them to the island now on a landing course near them. Andrew saw Derrick jogging towards them at a leisure pace. He sighed, realizing that now was the moment to choose. The helicopter landed several dozen feet away from them, kicking up dust and wind.

The sergeant took out the syringe and plunged it into Alex's neck. "You got a deal, kid," he said to him quietly, right before Alex's vision darkened and he saw no more.

* * *

Kaede, Nana and Kohta were running down the street, following Alex's trail, which was quite easy to follow considering the amount of property damage he left in his wake. Kaede lost Kitty's presence and several minutes after that the male dicloni's presence several seconds ago and it made her nervous. She couldn't understand why she was able to sense him in the first place, and now wasn't. There was only one thing that she knew of that could silence them in such a manner: death. She refrained from thinking of such things.

Kohta was running by her side, a determined look on his face and Nana followed in tow. After several seconds they turned at the corner and the bridge came into view, with a helicopter hovering above it. Kaede and Kohta paused there, both of them from pretty much the same reasons. Two years ago Kaede slaughtered many soldiers on this bridge and Kohta witnessed it, starting a chain of events that lead him to remember what happened to his family.

Kaede sent an uneasy glance at Kohta, seeing his blank expression. A moment later he looked back at her, gave her a reassuring nod and motioned for her to lead the way. She sighed in relief. She hoped that Kohta wont react in any bad way to the sight of bridge that changed his life the second time.

They continued in complete silence, watching as the helicopter finally took off to the distance, until they reached the bridge and ignored the roadblock that stated that the bridge was under repairs. As they ran on sign of destruction came into view. Dozens of small craters, some large. Missing railings and a whole chuck of road torn out. The thing that caught their gaze though was the familiar female figure lying inside a small crater, not reacting in any way to their presence.

"Kitty!" Nana called, running over to the young woman.

Said woman was in a bad shape, bruised in many places, her clothes torn apart in several areas and several streaks of blood were leaking down from her head. Kaede reached down and to feel for a heartbeat and gave Kohta a nod when she felt one.

"Where's Alex?" Nana suddenly asked, looking around the battlefield.

Kohta perked and stood up to look around. Kaede already knew that he wasn't here and looked at the direction the helicopter flew to. She frowned at the revelation. "He's not here, they got him," she stated.

"What?" Nana asked, looking paler by the sound of the words.

Kaede resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that. "There was a helicopter on the bridge and it's pretty obvious that they took him," she explained even though it wasn't really needed.

"So what are we going to do?" Kohta asked with a grim visage and Nana had a hopeful look on her face as she looked directly at Kaede.

Kaede sighed. She knew what she wanted, some way for them to do something about this situation…but she didn't know what to say about it. "Nothing, we can't do anything," she said with a shake of her head. "Let's get Kitty back to the house before anyone comes to investigate this place…" she finished and Kohta picked up Kitty from the ground and they started leaving the bridge.

* * *

"He's lucky. That shot could've blown his arm off," Derrick remarked as he tied down the bandages.

They were currently sitting in the chopper, resting and mending their wounds. Alex was unconscious and Derrick was tending to his shoulder wound. It wouldn't do them any good if their package would die on their way to the base. Jack was glaring daggers at the dicloni while bandaging the hole in his leg and Amy was in Mike's lap, who was trying to avoid using his hand as much as possible.

Out of the whole team, O'Brian and Derrick came out unscathed, or rather only Derrick. Andrew got punched one time after all…and thrown around like a ragdoll.

He decided to leave the woman behind. Why? He didn't know. He hoped the guy was right and that Kakuzawa won't get angry over it but for some reason, whatever it might be, he believed him. Besides, the fact that he was male and a dicloni somehow made him special, he was sure of it. The guy was about to beg him for fuck's sake! He didn't kill anyone, injure? Yes. Kill? No. On the other hand…if he would've killed them, the bomb inside Amy would've blown up and possibly – no one said to him just how powerful the bomb was – killed everyone on the bridge. It just gave him another reason to be grateful.

He looked at the unconscious young man. The wound on his shoulder was bandaged now and he won't lose anymore blood but he still looked unnaturally pale. His face seemed peaceful in some odd way. He sighed again, probably the twentieth time he did so this day. The first place they were going to when they will arrive to the island will be the infirmary. His whole team was pretty much broken, just like Alex promised.

He leaned against the window and closed his eyes. Several minutes of a nap won't hurt anyone. Besides, his head hurt.

* * *

**Now what will happen to Alex now? **

**Heh, loved this chapter. :P The next chapter will be uploaded soon and in it new information will be revealed on one of the characters! To find out more, you will have to just wait. :P Thank you for reading this story, it makes me feel really happy and your support - and reviews - are helping me to write on. Constructive criticism, suggestions and opinions are welcomed with open arms, dont be afraid to say whats on your mind. :) Thanks again. Until next time! Delvaro out.  
**


	14. Voices in the dark

**Hey there!**** I'm back with a new chapter! Just have to say this: this chapter was bloody fun to write! Maybe its not action-packed as the last two chapters, it was still fun to write nontheless. This chapter will give you more insight into some of the characters****. Which ones I'm sure you already know or will soon find out. Anyway, i wont delay it any further and so, enjoy this new chapter...but first!**

**Dark09, Rocci and Ash Aijo:**** Thanks for the reviews and the support! I'm very flattered that you liked my story that much and review it almost every chapter! Alas,**** all good things must end sometimes and unfortunately, my story is among the these. As much as i enjoy writing this, the plot has to go somewhere and now it gets closely to the end...but lets not worry about it now, the story isnt done yet, is it? I have two more (perhaps three) chapters to write and the scheduled release of the last chapter is the 26th, so we still have time! **

**Anyway, enjoy reading this!**_  


* * *

_

_Sacrifice. What is that thing? Many people consider this thing as an action described as 'taking one for the team', but I believe there is something deeper in that concept. While taking one for the team might be sometimes noble – and sometimes foolish – there is nothing sacrificial in it, at least in my opinion. Sacrifice is defined when one person discards his own well being for the sake of another, with results that are often irreversible. _

_What Kitty did for us was a sacrifice. She obviously knew it was a trap (otherwise I would've doubted her sanity) and yet she still risked it and did whatever she did, even if it was an utterly stupid thing to do. I doubt anything short of an army could take on the four of us, something that for whatever reasons Kitty decided to overlook. Had she told us, I doubt it would've ended the way it did but even so, I do not regret that any of these events happened because due to them I realized that truly loved that foolish girl._

_People often ask what love is. Some people say its all chemistry and other stuff I never took interest in but I, an anomaly within a race that was described as homicidal freaks with lack of emotions, found the answer for that question. You know what love is when you willingly, even gladly, give yourself to keep your loved one safe, the willingness to sacrifice yourself for the sake of another. Which leads to the next question: is a true sacrifice possible without love? I don't know the answer for that, nor do I really feel any compulsion to search for it._

_When I saw Kitty bruised and beaten, I was hurt, almost physically hurt by that sight. And when I was down and bleeding, so weak that I couldn't even lift an arm, both physical and vector, I realized that I no longer could protect Kitty, who was lying defenseless only several feet away from me. Right there I sacrificed myself for her sake; I willingly chose to return to the institute, to the hell of the entire diclonius race. And you know what? I don't regret it. If I will have the choice again, I will do so again._

- Alex, Alpha One

* * *

She slowly opened her eyes and waited for her vision to clear and when it did she was greeted with a familiar ceiling. At first she wondered what she was doing back at Maple Inn but then her memories returned to her in full force, enough to make her head spin a bit. Her breath hitched, something she regretted immediately because of the pain that blasted through her aching ribs and forced her to cough several times, only enhancing the pain.

"You're awake," someone said and Kitty turned her head, a bit too fast because the movement was accompanied by another wave of dizziness, to see Kaede who was sitting near by, looking at her in a rather cold manner.

Kitty simply nodded and tried to sit up and after a few pained grunts she was able to maneuver into a sitting position.

"What happened?" Kaede asked her. Kitty realized that since she was here Kaede already knew what happened. She quickly relayed her last night's conversation with Amy and what happened at the bridge. All the while Kaede silently listened, not offering any kind of emotional expressions other than that cold stare that seemed to be stuck to her face.

"I see," she finally said after a moment of silence. "While I'm flattered that you decided to do this for our sake, you should've told us," she said in such a tone that made Kitty suddenly feel very ashamed of her actions, as if she was a child scolded by her mother (something she was unfamiliar with). She was feeling rather foolish right now. She _should_ have told them everything.

Kitty looked around for a moment, noticing that something was missing. After a couple of seconds she realized what it was and looked at Kaede meaningfully. "Where is Alex?" she asked and much to her surprise Kaede flinched, or maybe she imagined it…

"They took him," she said after what seemed like an hour of silence and after these words another such silence rained down on the room. That silence was of the type that made it painful to bear.

"What? No, you must've missed him…" she said, her eyes wide as saucers. Kaede simply looked at her with a painful expression on her face, mingled somewhere between sympathy and pity.

"He wasn't there. They took him," she repeated, this time a bit more forcefully.

"No, no no no," Kitty repeated, her eyes filling with tears.

"I…I'm sorry, but we couldn't do anything," Kaede tried to assure her but to no avail.

"No! That's not true! He's still somewhere on that bridge!" Kitty all but screamed and the tears started leaking down her delicate face in full force. She dropped on her back, ignored the pain that action caused. She just laid there, sobbing to herself.

Kaede just sat there, at a loss. She didn't know what to do; she wasn't exactly the most…comforting type. She gently placed a hand on her shoulder, just in order to do something in order to comfort the weeping girl.

* * *

His senses gradually returned to him. The first thing he felt was the cold metal floor and wall. The second thing was the inability to move his arms, possibly due to the restraints the chained him to the cold wall. The third thing was the odd weight on his head, making him feel heavier. The fourth thing was that he was really cold, which only meant that he was naked. Deciding that he should open his eyes, even though he already knew _where_ he was, he opened them and waited until the blurriness passed.

The empty, dark and cold room greeted Alex and he sighed at the sight. He wasn't sure, but it was his cell. Oh, that brought back some memories. He also noticed that his vision was greatly impaired and that the weight on his head was that weird helmet they put on dicloni.

'_Hah, so I was finally rewarded with the helmet…after so many years,'_ he mused to himself. He took a glance at this shoulder to see it expertly bandaged, which was a good thing in his book.

He was alone and it was completely, and utterly silent in the room. It only caused him to sigh again. In the corner of the room he saw the camera, which was pointed at him and he gave it a pointed glare, even though he doubted they will see it through his helmet. Along the ceiling were small ventilation shafts and he knew what was their purpose. If he will happen to escape from the chains that bound him, the shafts will start vending some gas into his cell. He remembered the first time he did so, years ago. He cut off the chains and suddenly he was feeling woozy and the next thing he knew, it went dark and hours later he was bound again into the chains. He repeated that several times and each time he fell unconscious until he learned the lesson and decided to stay bound in chains. He sighed for the third time, since he didn't really have anything else to do. This surely brought back some very _fond_ memories…

* * *

_A Six year old Alex was sitting in his cell. The guards deemed him as harmless and so he was allowed to be free in his cell. And that meant that he wasn't chained to the wall. Instead, two chains were attached to his legs, allowing him to move around ten feet from the wall._

_A man entered the room. He was tall, he had black hair and he wore a lab coat, just like all the other…doctors did._

"_Time for your tests," he said, offering him a smile and Alex returned it. Lee was always nice to him…_

* * *

Footsteps woke him out of his musings, or nap, he wasn't really sure. He raised his head to see none other than Kakuzawa himself standing there, in his person, staring at him with a disgustingly triumphant smirk.

"So…look who returned to us!" he remarked with a lecherous grin. Alex simply stared at him for several seconds before replying with a grunt.

"Aw, not wanting to talk? My men reported that you talk quite a lot…and from what they told me I see that you still try to keep that foolish promise," he replied with a mocking tone. "But now you're back and we'll have _so_ much fun."

"Did you come down here to mock me, or do you need anything? If you don't have anything else to say, please, don't waste my time," Alex said with deathly calm.

Kakuzawa paused for a second and then burst into roaring laughter. "I see that life in the outside world gave you character," he said and then his smile vanished, "we will need to take care of that…"

'_God, how I hate him…'_ Alex mused, glaring at the bastard. Okay, that did it; he pissed him off, now it was his turn to piss him off so much that he will have a freaking heart attack. He broke into a chuckle that was no less malicious than Kakuzawa himself. The chief looked at him curiously with a raised eyebrow.

"I know where Lucy is," he simply said and smirked in victory when Kakuzawa's face changed from being curious to one of furious astonishment.

"Where? Tell me where she is!" he screamed at him, suddenly looking absolutely insane. He walked closer to him, taking care not to walk into the ten meter ring that surrounded Alex.

Now, after hearing this Alex's chuckled intensified. "Remember that time when you wanted to know who brought me food here?" he asked him, referring to that time years ago when Lee (his caretaker of sorts in this place) used to bring him food – real food – once in a while. Kakuzawa noticed that but didn't know who brought the food. The camera's used to spontaneously turn off without any reasons when that happened.

'_Lee was good. This old asshole wasn't able to find out who that was,'_ he reminisced. Kakuzawa wasn't able to get out any kind of information from him, no matter what kind of 'treatments' he forced him to go through. At one point Kakuzawa and his men hadn't even managed to get one word out of him.

"I did find out who that was eventually," Kakuzawa remarked, regaining his composure, "besides, you don't have proof that you know where the Queen is."

Alex snorted, "Yeah, you found out by seeing his dead body. And you don't need any proof from me, you will just have to trust my word, hah," he said. And then the expected reply came, Kakuzawa started rambling on and on about superiority or something…

* * *

_Alex was brought into an odd room. It wasn't much unlike his cell, only this one was much bigger and had another door on the other side. The eight year old boy looked around the room, curious of the reason he was brought in here._

"_Don't worry Alex, everything will be fine," Alex heard Lee say over the loudspeakers. He turned to see the large window on the wall and there he saw Lee with a handful of other scientists he never met. Alex frowned at the sound of his voice, which sounded somewhat strained for whatever reason._

_The door that was on the other side started opening and Alex turned to watch. When the door opened he was surprised to see another person enter. It was a girl, around his age, with long pink hair with a pair of horns sticking out – much like his own – and like him, she was as naked as she was on the day she was born._

_Alex would've said something, asked Lee for an explanation but he couldn't. The cold emotionless stare the girl was sending him was sending a shiver down his spine. The girl then started walking to him, slowly – so slow that it was starting to scare him – and Alex found himself taking several steps back before he noticed._

"_Alex, I want you to use your arms now. Defend yourself," Lee said with a commanding voice that caused Alex to flinch at the unfamiliarity of it. Alex looked at the window, and then back at the girl, who was still walking towards him. "She will not hesitate to kill you. Don't allow her to do it," Lee added._

_Alex frowned at his inner turmoil. On one hand, he hated using his vectors…it caused him pain and it was the whole reason he was here in the first place. On the other hand…Lee wouldn't have used such a tone with him if he didn't know what he was talking about. Deciding to trust Lee he summoned his arms – all four of them – and ignored the odd throbbing he felt in the back of his head._

* * *

Alex looked around again and to his surprise it was empty.

'_Oh…I must've tuned him out or something…'_ he thought awkwardly. One trick he learned during his stay here, mostly for the occasions Kakuzawa decided to visit him, was the ability to…drift away in a manner of speaking. He was just…not there. Just like he did now, he was just thinking and somehow ended up completely ignoring the director, who must've gotten tired of him in his silent state and left him alone, not that he was ungrateful for that; a minute in the presence of that man was more than enough for him. And as for a bonus, he must've pissed off the old man with his behavior, which was always a good thing!

He sighed and looked at the camera at the corner. Kakuzawa was surely watching him now, mostly because he mentioned Lucy. Right now, he completely distracted him from Kitty – who was the main reason he was here: to protect her – and had an opportunity of epic proportions to torture the old man! Oh, poor ol' Kakuzawa didn't know what he was getting into…Alex decided he was going to tease him, again and again but never give up any kind of real information. He chuckled slightly at the prospect of fun times in the future.

* * *

_The door silently opened and Alex could see the silhouette of Lee in the relative darkness of the room._

"_Lee?" the nine year old boy asked quietly. The man shushed him and walked inside, carrying something with him._

"_We don't have much time, only around five minutes," Lee whispered and gave him a small box. "Here, happy birthday."_

_Alex took the box and immediately a smell, an amazing one that made his mouth fill with saliva, assaulted his nose. Alex hastily moved into a more comfortable position on the floor, wincing slightly from the bruises he accumulated during his new tests and 'training' as they called it, and opened the box._

_Inside, he saw these odd things. They were thin and long and all around them there were other things, some looking tasty, some looking outright weird. He twisted his face in confusion, not really knowing what to make of it. Lee seemed to notice that because he chuckled and ruffled Alex's hair, which only made the boy frown._

"_Its noodles Alex, you eat them," Lee explained and then frowned in thought, right before he started muttering curses directed at himself. "Damn, I forgot to bring the chop sticks but you'll just have to do without them, sorry," he finished with a sheepish smile._

_Alex simply nodded awkwardly and took some of these 'noodles' with his fingers and dropped them in his mouth. Right off the bat, without any warning his tongue sent him waves of utter pleasure into his brain, catching him completely off guard. He nearly squealed in pleasure and surprise at how godlike the taste was. Swallowing what was in his mouth he dug into the small box, shoveling noodles into his mouth in a frightening pace. The small noodle box hadn't survived longer than a minute. Lee looked at Alex with amazement and something akin to pity._

"_Say, Lee…you said happy birthday?" Alex asked when he finally swallowed all the food and made sure he will remember the taste of the delicacy. _

"_Yep, it's your birthday," Lee replied with a smile._

"_How do you know that?" Alex asked him curiously._

"_Because…because I just know, okay?" he answered somewhat annoyingly._

"_Oh…okay," Alex muttered. Something in Lee's tone told him that he shouldn't push the matter any further. They sat like that for several moments, no one saying a single word and the only thing that was breaking the silence was Alex scraping the box for anything that might've remained there._

"_Lee?" Alex suddenly said, his voice the epitome of seriousness, something that caught Lee off guard. He had never heard the boy speak in such a manner before._

"_Yes?" Lee asked, curious about what he had to say._

"_The reason I'm here…is because I have horns and these arms? Just like all those other girls I saw? Because they're afraid ill become like them, a cold killer?" he asked him, his voice barely above a whisper._

_Lee looked at him sadly. The fact that the kid understood everything clearly showed that he matured beyond his years, realizing things that children his age shouldn't even think about. The fights that he had to go through against other dicloni showed him what his race was capable off and the thin scar on his back and many bruises were a constant reminder of that. He quickly understood the differences between himself and other dicloni._

"_..Yes," Lee answered with a heavy heart. The kid had no control on how he was born and it wasn't his fault he was born the way he was but he still had to pay for it._

"_Well then…that means that I just won't kill. Ever," he stated with uncanny determinacy. "I refuse to kill and that's a promise I will never break. That way they will have no choice but to understand that I'm different and let me go."_

_Lee couldn't help but smile at that statement, even if it was a naïve one. Lee knew for a fact that Kakuzawa will never let Alpha One go, not in a year and not in a decade. Still, he could bring himself to shatter the boy's new resolve. He picked up the remains of the noodle box and anything else that might show what transpired here this night._

"_We shall see Alex; we shall see…" he said, standing up. "Just don't die trying to prove your point," and with that, he left the cell, leaving the boy alone in the dark._

* * *

"Fuck, I hate this shit," Mike muttered under his breath as he moved his hand and inspected the cast it was covered with. Alex broke the wrist cleanly and oddly enough, in a way that won't cause much permanent harm!

"Oh, just shut the fuck up! At least he didn't _throw_ a fucking bullet at you," Jack retorted in annoyance, tired of hearing Mike's whining.

"Both of you, shut the fuck up," the young dicloni that shared the room with them piped with a growl. Both grown men gave her a look, shrugged and returned to their bickering.

Amy rubbed her temples. These two were impossible. Not only they were completely ignoring the threat she might be to them, they were also trying to kill her by annoying her to appoint where she will die from a brain hemorrhage.

She was rather surprised that she was in the infirmary with them, something that O'Brian of all people insisted on. While Mike and Jack had light to medium injuries Amy got the worst of it. Four broken ribs, dislocated left shoulder and various other injuries of less importance. Her legs were completely bandaged because of that low vector swipe Alex caught her with somehow managed to crack the bones of her legs. Most of her injuries were treated and she was in no immediate danger but she was still grounded to the uncomfortable bed. In short, she was outright broken here but she was grateful that she was alive so far…or rather she will be grateful until they will shove her back into her cell and all the experiments.

By now Mike and Jack stopped arguing over who got the worst injury and right now they decided to simply not look at each other in a very uncharacteristically childish way. Amy rolled her eyes at the sight.

"Err, Amy?" Mike suddenly asked, gaining the girl's attention.

"What?" she asked him in a half growl half groan.

"Oh, uh…just wanted to say thank you…you know, for protecting me and everything, even though I didn't need protection," he said awkwardly, looking rather uncomfortable. Amy wouldn't really understand him but to a trained soldier like him (who killed dozens of people already and hadn't flinched when he did so) being rescued by a girl almost three times younger than him was rather embarrassing.

Amy blinked at that. She certainly didn't expect that. She couldn't even explain it herself, much less explain it to others. She already pondered on that time…what the hell possessed her to protect Mike, who was perhaps the most annoying person in the world?

"Uhm, you're welcome, I guess," Amy replied with as much awkwardness. After that small exchange both parties stayed silent for the most part and after several minutes a loud snore came from Jack's bed. Both the dicloni and soldier glared at the injured Jack and sighed in defeat, resigning themselves to live through the snoring.

One thing was bothering Amy though and she simply had to find out before she was sent back to her cell, where she might never get an answer. "Mike? Why did you call me Amy?" she asked him gently, remembering all the times he avoided answering.

Mike looked at her in a surprised fashion before giving a glance at Jack, and then at Amy, who was giving him a look that was saying that she won't leave him alone until he tells her everything. A couple of minutes of silence passed between the two before he cleared his throat, sighed and looked at the girl.

"Hmm, its kind of personal to me, I doubt the whole squad knows that, even after all these years…" he began, "…but before I joined the army I had a girlfriend," Amy looked at him in an interested manner, wondering what it had to do with her new name.

"Anyway, before I left to the army, she was pregnant and when I was already serving I found out that I had a baby girl." He said with a bitter-sweet smile on his face. "I…I wanted to call her Amy, as in Amanda, but her mother decided to give her a different name and not tell me about it and before I even know what's going on…she stops answering my calls and leaves me with my daughter. I haven't heard from them since," he finished with a scowl. "My daughter is supposed to be around your age now," he mumbled loud enough for her to hear.

Amy didn't know what to say. She didn't even know what to feel about that. She found out that he had a daughter around her age, and he named her after the name he wanted to give to his own child. "Why did she leave you?" she asked him, a bit flustered and not knowing what else to say.

"Oh, she didn't like my patriotism. She wanted me to stay with her but I was already sent away to fight the bad guys…after that, she disappeared, leaving me a message about how my daughter will grow up without a father but by that time…it was too late for me to return or anything. She's made up her mind," he lamented. "It's partially my fault, I know that and I don't blame her. After she left…I just stayed in the army…I had nothing to back to, no family, no daughter, nothing."

Amy silently watched him, seeing the broken look his face took. It was obvious that this still pained him, even after all this time. "I'm…uh, flattered that you decided to give me that way…" she began but Mike interrupted her with a chuckle.

"Nah, don't fret about it. I like kids and you're like the daughter I never met and probably never will. That week we hanged around, it was fun," he said, giving her a smile.

Amy's eye's widened at those words. She was like a daughter to him? Its not like she knew what it was to be a daughter, or having parents – she was in the institute since she could remember herself – but that made her feel…warm and comfortable. "Hah, uh, thanks, I guess," she replied sheepishly, giving him a genuine smile.

"Don't worry about it, Amy," he said with a wide smile. "Seeing you smile is more than enough for me. You're always sulking and frowning so seeing you smile is a big enough 'thank you' for me."

"What? I am _not_ sulking!" Amy exclaimed with fluster but Mike only replied by laughing loudly.

* * *

He suddenly felt cold, _cold_ water hit him out of nowhere. It was freezing, so freezing he felt his skin burn from the sudden drop of temperatures. His breath hitched and he cried in surprise, and then cried some more when the water continued rushing at him. After what seemed like hours the water finally stopped and he coughed several times to get the water out of his lungs. Even though the helmet was made from metal, the water still got in. He quickly took several sips from the water that was left inside since he wasn't given anything to drink even since he got here. At least that awful smell was gone now…they didn't exactly allowed to leave for bathroom breaks…

"Rise and shine!" announced a cheery voice that was somewhat familiar to Alex. From his half sitting-half hanging position on the wall he saw a group of men; two of them guards which were moving the fire hose away from him and the rest were wearing lab coats and carrying various equipment with them but he ignored them and settled his gaze on the middle man, who was facing him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you people! Who the fuck wakes people like that?" Alex cried out, shooting daggers at the man in front of him. "Asahiro? Holy shit, they gave you a promotion?"

Asahiro was a man in his late thirtieth. He used to be one of the head scientists. Now though, he wore a rather fancy suit instead. "Oh, you noticed?" he asked with a smirk.

"Hmm, I guess you're Kurama's replacement, eh?" Alex asked and smirked – even though it was impossible to see his face – when Asahiro's face faltered a bit. No one liked being a replacement.

"As a matter of fact, I am. The idiot had gotten himself killed and they needed someone competent enough to take his place," he said, his voice full of bluster. Alex simply snickered and tilted his head to the side.

"Yeah, keep telling this to yourself, now what do you want?" he asked, still quite annoyed with the way he was woken up.

"How rude. You're still the vermin you always were I see," Asahiro replied dismissively. "We're here to conduct some tests. We don't know how much you grown during the time you were absent so we're going to find out."

"Uh, you can ask me…and you can see for yourself, I'm not wearing any underwear…" Alex mumbled in an offhand manner and smiled when he saw how frustrated Asahiro looked like at the moment.

"Just shut up and let us do our job. There is no point in all your remarks. You are locked here, trapped and this time there is no Lee to save you!" Asahiro shouted, his face broadcasting how annoyed he was with the male dicloni.

'_No Lee to save you…'_ Alex repeated in his head.

* * *

_The door opened, waking Alex up. He squinted in the dark room to see Lee entered the room, almost running. Alex raised an eyebrow at that. Something was off, and Lee, who was in a hurry – he was never in a hurry for as long as Alex knew him –, was enough proof of that._

_Lee approached the young teenager and once he was closer Alex could see the urgent – and somewhat frightened – look on his face. That only served as another reason to worry for Alex._

"_We need to hurry, get up," Lee said urgently, ushering Alex on his feet. Alex didn't budge though, instead he tilted his head to the side – much in a way a dog would do – and waited for an explanation. "There's no time! You need to get up now!" he hissed at him, looking back to see if someone heard him._

_Now Alex was assured that something was awfully wrong. He got up to his feet and Lee started fiddling in his pockets. To Alex's surprise, Lee took out a key and unlocked the chains on his feet. Alex was frozen in shock, looking up in panic but much to his surprise, he wasn't starting to feel woozy, or anything else for that matter._

"_It wont activate if I use the key," Lee explained and ushered Alex to follow him, giving him his lab coat to cover himself with. _

_Alex put on the lab coat, which was too big for him and it ended up hanging down to his knees. He followed him in silent fascination and worry as Lee lead him out of his cell. He was never allowed to walk outside, each time he was moved to another room, whether for tests of for the pointless fights with other dicloni, he was first put asleep with that gas and then wake up in another room. This was actually the first time he was outside of his cell, or another room._

"_Lee, what's going on?" Alex asked him. The corridors were completely disserted and he was curious to know why._

"_Stay silent; I don't want anyone to hear us. I'm getting us out of here," Lee said and continued walking for several seconds until he noticed Alex wasn't following him. He turned to see Alex who was standing there with an incredulous face._

"_Getting us out? Out of here?" he asked with a weak voice. Lee simply stared at him until he nodded and Alex found himself nearly losing his balance._

_Before Alex could bombard him with questions that Lee knew Alex had, he shushed him with a gesture of his hand. "Stay quiet. I don't know how much time we have but I know we don't have that much," he explained. "I will explain everything once we get out of here."_

_Alex nodded, feeling quite excited and his worry completely forgotten. He followed Lee, who knew the way, unlike Alex, who was looking around curiously as they walked in silence. Nothing was said between as they walked and then entered the elevator – which Alex found as an amazing thing – and when they came out, they were on a different and better lit door._

_They were close to the exit, as Lee remarked as they exited the elevator, and Alex could actually see the exit door. His heart started beating faster, so fast that he felt it might burst out through his chest. The way out – his freedom! – was close at hand. They were around thirty feet from the door when the sound of a weapon being cocked was heard behind them._

"_Don't move!" someone shouted and they turned to see a guard, brandishing a handgun and aiming it at Alex._

"_Shit!" Lee whispered harshly. _

_Alex wasn't that worried. He could block bullets rather easily and handgun bullets were just an annoyance to him, unlike the more…heavier stuff._

"_Sir, don't worry, I already called back up. We will get you rescued," the guard said to Lee, to which Alex raised an eyebrow._

'_He thinks I'm…holding him hostage?' Alex thought in confusion. The sounds of hurried and heavy booted footsteps echoed through the hallways, getting louder as time went. Soon enough the back-up the guard mentioned will arrive and their chances of escape will be shot down._

"_Alex, when I give you the signal, run to the door. I already took care of it, it will be open," Lee whispered from the corner of his mouth so the guard won't hear him._

_Alex wanted to object, to tell him that he could protect them both, that the guard was already within his vector range but the sound of the footsteps getting louder stopped him. He gave him a sidelong glance and a subtle nod._

_The guard started taking several steps back and he turned his head to look behind him – where the back-up was coming from – and that was the moment Lee was waiting for._

"_Move!" he shouted and Alex darted towards the door, rather surprise to see Lee pull out a handgun from beneath his shirt and aim it at the guard. Alex was almost at the door when a gunshot thundered, echoing through the hallways and Alex paused to watch the guard fall down and Lee beginning to follow Alex. The other guards which were just beginning to pile into their hallways saw that and some shouted orders for them to stop._

_Alex reached the door, punched the button that will open the door and with a hiss, the door opened, and for the first time in his life Alex felt the cold wind brush his face. He saw the starry night, which was purely mesmerizing in its beauty. He nearly stopped there but he managed to stumble a few steps outside. He turned around to give Lee a beaming smile but the smile was wiped from his face._

_Lee was running full force at him but several dozen feet behind him the hallway was filled with at least a dozen of fully armed guards and all of them trained their rifles at Lee, who discarded his weapon._

"_Come on!" Alex shouted at Lee, who was only several feet from him._

_A gunshot rang, and then another one in a quick pace. Lee suddenly convulsed, blood stains suddenly appearing on his chest as several spots simply…exploded as the bullet moved straight through his torso. With the momentum of his running carrying him on, Lee stumbled forward and dropped down in a bloody heap, right at the feet of Alex._

_Alex looked in sheer horror at the unresponsive body of Alex, waiting, hoping that Lee will get up again and tell him to move or…or anything! But he knew that it won't happen. By this day he was fully familiar with the concept of death, even if he never killed anyone, he saw other dicloni kill before. But never before he saw someone die that was…close to him. Even if he never said it, Lee was a close person to him, a precious one…and now he understood he will never get to say it to him._

_A bullet zipped by his head and shook him out of his stupor. He looked up, tears welling in his eyes, to see the guards aiming their weapons at him and opening fire. He halfheartedly summoned his vectors to stop the bullets and started running away._

_He didn't give another glance back, not wanting to see the place where he spent all his life and not wanting to see the dead body of the only friend he ever had, who was like a father to him. He ran on, not slowing down even for one second, not wishing to waste another minute in this cursed place. He ran, by now openly crying, until the island finally ran out._

_He stopped on the cliff edge, seeing the sea for the first time. It was a beautiful sight but at the moment he didn't put much thought into it. Instead he focused on the distant lights on the other side of the large body of water. The lights looked inviting from this spot but to get to them he would have to swim. He didn't care at that moment whether he will drown or cross the sea. Any other place will be better than this place. And with that thought in mind he jumped and dived into the cold water._

* * *

'_No Lee to save you…'_ he repeated again, his head hanging loosely on his shoulders.

"Alright people, lets get to work. Remember, his vector range was nine point eight meters so careful not to step into the ring!" Asahiro said in a commanding tone and the people started milling about, unpacking their equipment or helping the others.

'_That's right. No one will save me now, like last time,'_ he mused. _'And Lee's dead…because of me, because I was too stupid. The guard was in my vector range, I could've simply dispatched him and Lee might've survived that night. He's dead because I was too afraid, because…'_

'…_Of that stupid promise?'_ a weak and unfamiliar voice interrupted his line of thought. Alex wasn't sure, but that voice came from…his mind?

'_Because of your promise you didn't save Lee. You could've protected him, saved him, but you didn't…because you were too afraid,'_ the weak voice whispered in his mind.

'_Who…what are you?'_ Alex asked, noticing that he was speaking with himself in some manner. He must've gone insane somewhere during this day.

'_And now, because you were too afraid to kill, you left Kitty alone. You failed to protect her, just like you failed to protect Lee when you could,'_ the voice continued, ignoring Alex's question. As much as he wanted to ignore the voice, wherever that voice came from, he couldn't deny that it held some truth. He didn't protect Lee, even though he could and now, once again he failed another one. He failed to protect Kitty when she needed him the most. Now, he left her completely alone, even though he promised her he won't leave her…

'_But you can still keep that promise…' _the voice whispered. Alex considered the words. He could still keep his promise to Kitty…

'_How?'_ he simply asked.

'_Simply break your first promise…'_ the voice answered. _'Finish it. Once and for all…'_

'_Once and for all...'_ Alex repeated, thinking of the words but the voice didn't reply, not that it needed to. Alex understood everything clearly now, understood what the voice wanted. He knew what it asked him to do. The only question left: was it worth it?

"Move it!" Asahiro shouted angrily, "I want to get this over with as fast as physically possible so lets finish this already!" he continued as the men were finishing setting up their equipment.

Everyone was interrupted though when the dicloni started snickering. Each one of the men stood silent, looking at the young man and his sudden and unexplained outburst.

"What is so fucking funny?" Asahiro asked, visibly annoyed. Instead of replying Alex's snicker turned into a chuckle and soon after it evolved into full blow laughter.

There was something…wrong in that laughter. Asahiro felt a shiver go down his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck stand. It wasn't the fact that he was laughing for no reason, or that the laughter lacked any humor, no, what was disturbing was how cold it was.

"Oh no, nothing's funny. It's just what you said earlier," Alex said once he calmed down, raising his head from it's hanging position. The faceless helmet stared hard at Asahiro and he couldn't help but shudder. "You said that I'm locked here, trapped…no, what's funny is that you got it all wrong."

Asahiro took a subconscious step backwards and his men followed suit. The two guards took out their submachine guns and took aim.

"It's quite the opposite actually. _You_ are the ones who are trapped here…with _me_," he said in a cold and calm voice that Asahiro took a conscious step back this time.

"Don't worry, as long as we are outside the ring, he wont be able to hurt us," Asahiro explained to his men, who were beginning to slightly panic, but against everything he said, and much to everyone's disbelief, the guards – who were standing three meters behind him – suddenly dropped down. In two pieces.

Asahiro looked in shock and panic at Alex. These guards were three meters behind him and he was standing at least two meters from the ring!

"I'm going to finish this, _all_ of this," Alex said with uncanny calm.

The cell had a reinforced door and it – and the door – was completely sound proof. For that reason the guards and other personnel that might've walked in the hallway outside never heard the bloodcurdling screams that were echoing in the cell but never reaching anywhere beyond the door.  


* * *

**Whoa, what an ending eh?**

I'm so bloody excited now, especially with the knowledge of what I'm planning to write the next chapter...it just makes me giddy inside, hehehe. **One word for you: It will be interesting! (Okay, that was four words but that doesnt really matter). Soon enough...the next chapter will be released and I will be even happier! Anyway, enough with my happy rambling. Thanks for reading this chapter! Constructive criticism, suggestions and opinions are welcomed here so dont be afraid to say whats on your mind! You can either leave them in a review or a pm, whatever suits you! Until next time, Delvaro out.**


	15. Touch like an angel of death

**Damn, this is _the longest_ chapter i've written for this story. Heck, i think its the longest chapter i've written. Ever. Hah, that makes me feel awesome right now. Anyway, I enjoyed writing this chapter so much, trying to write everything down just like saw it in my head, and i simply hadnt noticed that what i wrote was that long all of a sudden. Regardless, I'm happy that it looks good, at least for me. :)**

**In this pace, i think i'll finish this story sooner than the 26th, not that its a bad thing, or a good one. Cant be sure, ill see how it goes :) Anyway...Plaese, enjoy this chapter! :D Hopefully its as awesome as i see it. :)**

I wonder if you know where i got the chapter title from... :P

* * *

It was odd, simply because he couldn't find a logical explanation to it. How the fuck was that even possible? How could a man – and not a large one at that – have so much blood in him? Not only that, but there was more than one man here. Fuck, there was even blood on the ceiling!

Alex held the breathing mask in place, not wishing to breathe that weird gas that usually made him drop like a rock. He had to give them credit though; they brought masks just for that situation where he would attempt to escape and they were more than willing to share one with him, though he didn't really ask…

He dropped the completely soaked-in-blood pants to the floor, which landed with a disgusting wet sound and proceeded to loot the next body. Maybe he shouldn't have cut them into pieces…just breaking their necks would've ensured a clean death but at the moment such a death looked like mercy and right now, they didn't deserve any, especially from him. He was still rather surprised that his vector grew past the ten meter mark! Heck, how long he could reach now, was it fifteen? Or more?

He walked to a body that was missing its torso – said torso was lying somewhere on the other side of the room with other body parts – and examined the clothes. There was no way he was going to walk around naked in this place. The other dicloni might not care about such stuff – something that never bothered him, considering that most of them were good looking – but he preferred to stay civil and dressed most of the time…and he might catch a cold with wet clothes!

Shaking his head he walked to the next body, which was missing an arm and the head, and nodded in appreciation when he saw that the pants were relatively clean.

"Come on, friend. Your head has gone looking for your arm, so you won't need these anytime soon…" he muttered as he undressed the dead man. That wasn't the most…humane thing to do, but it was either that or walk around naked. He took only the pants, deciding to 'go commando' in this situation. There was no way he was wearing a dead man's underwear, some things should go to the grave with you and the underwear were in that list.

He was rather pissed at the prospect that his clothes were gone forever. He liked them! How was he supposed to get new clothes now? Wasn't he a wanted terrorist back in Kamakura? Shaking his head in disappointed he quickly put on the pants, ignoring the several red spots on them and decided that this was enough.

Moving to the bags and small crates the brought with them he opened them and looked through the contents. He was checking the fourth crate when he found syringes with anesthetics. He didn't know the name of the painkilling liquid inside but he could clearly remember, as if it was just yesterday, how many times it was used on him when he was held here years ago. He could easily recall the sweet, sweet relief that flowed through him whenever that was injected into him. That line of thought made him pause…was he addicted to painkillers? That was slightly disturbing to him…but regardless, he needed them now. He pocketed the four syringes for later use.

Deciding that it was time to go, and deal with this clusterfuck of problems, Alex walked over to the body of Asahiro – who's fate was the worst, having all the limbs ripped off with the head being last – he quickly sifted through his bloody pockets until he found a keycard. Lee once showed him how he moved around the base, and that way was a keycard. The one he held in his hand now wasn't all that different. He noticed the small radio device Asahiro had on him, smiled at the ideas that sprung in his head – and pocketed the radio along with the second device that resided in the pocket. He gave one last glance at the camera at the corner, flipped it the finger and stood up.

He walked to the door that lead outside and paused there to look at what remained of his first victims. It was odd. He expected to feel bad about it, to feel guilt and feel like a monster, feel the way it was described in various books and movies. But…he felt nothing, absolutely nothing. No guilt, no other bad feelings, not even happiness that he killed some awful people. This prospect frightened him to the core. Was this how dicloni felt when they killed? This cold indifference?

He shook his head at his thoughts, deciding to put them in the 'thoughts for later times' section of his head and swiped the keycard. The door opened slowly with a hiss and he walked out, slowly raising an eyebrow at the amount of guards that was waiting there, cocking their weapons.

"Don't move!" the lead guard shouted. Alex decided to amuse them and did as he was told, removing the breathing mask and tossing it away. He waited patiently until the guards will do something, but it seemed that he was out of luck this time. He was tired and he doubted he slept that long before his rude awakening.

The guards, who were already terrified of facing such an opponent – who looked like the epitome of calmness at the moment –, simply paled when the young man in front of them took a large and loud yawn.

"Alright, let me explain this to you," he started; making some guards flinch at the sudden appearance of his voice. "I know you simply do your job and everything, I can respect that but I can't respect – or believe the sheer stupidity – your decision to work for such a place. Now I'm going to walk right through you, and I'm not figuratively speaking," he said, gesturing at all the guards that blocked his way, "You can simply drop your weapons and get the fuck out of here…or _I_ can get you the fuck out of here."

The guards didn't answer, though he saw a few of them shuffled on their feet. Alex decided to show him his point. One of the man off to the side started coughing forcefully. One of his comrades looked at him curiously, which quickly changed into horror when the man started coughing ridiculous amount of blood. Soon enough, blood started freely flowing out of the man's mouth and he collapsed to the floor, much to his comrade's horror.

"Yeah…getting your inner organs torn apart from the inside tends to have these effects…" Alex explained in an offhand manner.

The guards, Alex counted sixteen of them, gave each other a look and then, much to Alex's displeasure, aimed their submachine guns at him and opened fire. Alex simply rolled his eyes at the display of futile stupidity. The bullets didn't bounce off his vector blockade this time, they simply stuck there, floating and by the time the guards started reloading there were over a hundred bullets floating in front of Alex.

"Idiots, don't say I didn't warn you…" Alex said in disappointment.

The bullets started moving, moving towards each other right in front of Alex. To the guards' surprise the bullets started compressing into a large ball. Every single bullet was crushed into a pile until finally, after what seemed like an hour for the guards, there was a large ball – about the size of average human torso – made from bullets floating in front of Alex.

"See ya!" he said cheerfully.

The ball was launched at the guards. Not one of them expected such a display of dicloni capabilities. The cannonball flew at breakneck speeds, flying straight at the lead guard who spoke earlier. It didn't stop there. The guard's body offered as much resistance as a leaf would and the cannonball simply flew right through the body – tearing apart the poor man – and barreled into the men behind him, who shared much of the same fate. By the time the cannonball reached the other side of the corridor, embedding itself deep into the wall, there were only six guards remaining. They weren't giving up either, since they reloaded their weapons and opened fire again.

Alex simply reacted with a shrug, effortlessly beheading five men and grabbing the last one around his neck. The guard tried to remove the invisible appendage but to no avail. Then, Alex simply threw him up, headfirst into the ceiling. The guard dropped down lifelessly, leaving a large splatter of blood on the ceiling – which was creating a miniature rain of blood – and landed with a dull thud.

The male dicloni looked at his handiwork. There it was again, that indifference about his kills. It was starting to worry him by now…who knew killing will be so easy to accomplish? Regardless, he gave them a choice to leave and they denied it, he was free of guilt in this case. He walked through the corridor, his bare feet making splattering sounds on the sickeningly sleek blood. He reached into his pocket and took out the radio. Perhaps it was time to commence the psychological warfare…a wide grin formed on his mouth at that idea.

* * *

O'Brian burst into the room, followed quickly by Derrick.

"What the fuck's going on?" Jack asked urgently because he, like everyone else heard the alarms that started sounding through the entire complex minutes ago.

"There's an escape attempt," Andrew quickly explained and started gathering the belongings they left in the infirmary.

"What? Another one? Why are we leaving?" Mike asked.

"Honestly, I had enough dealings with dicloni to last me a life time. Another reason why we're leaving is that we're probably partially responsible for this…" O'Brian explained and finished packing and now urgently gestured them to follow. Derrick walked over to Jack and placed his arm over his shoulder to get him up. Mike stood up and picked up Amy into his arms without a second thought, taking care to not put any pressure on his broken wrist.

Minutes later they were already walking through the hallways, making their way to the exit. They still had to climb three floors to get to the exit. Their speed was limited due to Jack's injury but they were making good time with what they had.

"Andrew, what did you mean by saying that we're partially responsible for this?" Amy asked the sergeant, calling him by his name for the first time. She was rather surprised that they quickly accepted her and actually took her with them. As it seemed, they were leaving the institute and she was glad they accepted her, to some extent.

The sergeant gave her an odd look when she called him by his name but before O'Brian could answer her a loud static crackle interrupted him. The sound came from the loudspeakers that were all over the place, their use was mainly to broadcast messages. The static lasted for several seconds only a voice broke through the sound, and that voice made them completely stop.

"…_Is this on? Oh...nice, I can hear myself here!"_ said the dicloni they captured recently through the loudspeakers.

Jack gave Andrew an incredulous stare. "The kid? He's the one responsible for this mess?" he asked and O'Brian only replied with a hesitant nod.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you into my humble abode! First of, I would like to introduce some new rules,"_ Alex said in a voice that was so cheerful it actually made Mike shiver. _"I'm not a bloodthirsty killed, but if you will shoot me, I will harm you in so many ways that you will think that the girls who are held here are having it easy. Don't try to stop me, and I won't kill you. I hope I made myself clear. In fact, you should leave this place while you can! Remember this: Resistance is futile!"_

"Shit, do you think he's pissed off at us?" Mike asked quietly. No one had an answer to that. As if O'Brian made the order, they took off with new determination in their stride, every one of them wishing to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the male dicloni.

"_Well, now that I said my warning, I won't feel bad about whom I kill and so…let us begin the show!" _Alex announced the silence reined the hallways.

They ran through the hallways with O'Brian always urging them on. The elevator was on the farthest side of this floor and with the pace they were moving at they were going to reach it in five minutes at best.

* * *

Alex looked curiously at the woman, who sat against the wall; cry out her eyeballs at the mere sight of him. Alex walked over to her, leaving bloody footsteps in his wake. Her crying only intensified as he got closer and by the time he was standing in front of her she was openly weeping. She toppled even lower and now as on the floor in fatal position.

Alex nearly face faulted at the display. Was he really that scary? Sure, he had blood all over him and he did say over the loudspeaker that he will kill everyone who will oppose him but really…he looked at the pale woman who was crying a river at his feet. This was way too much. He kneeled in front of her – making her squeal in fright in the process – and gave her a wide grin, which he considered as his disarming one, and a gruesome wink. "Please…please don't kill me," she whispered weakly.

"Hey, I said that I won't hurt anyone who won't oppose me. Are you trying to shoot me in the head?" he asked her gently. The woman looked at him, terror visible in her tear-stricken eyes before she shook her head weakly in a barely noticeable way. "Good. Now stop crying out your eyeballs and get out of here, I'm not going to kill you!" he assured her and offered her his hand.

She looked at it with fright but did accept it. Alex pulled her to her feet and gave her another disarming grin. "Well, you're free to go, I wasn't planning on killing unarmed people who have I no quarrel with," he told her but the chorus of heavy boots caught his attention. He turned to see around two dozen guards fill out into their corridor from around the corner, all aiming their guns at him. "Now these on the other hand…I will kill. You should leave, I doubt you want to see this," he said to her, still giving her that shit-eating grin.

The woman gave him a nod and ran to the direction Alex came from. Alex wondered why she ran _that_ way, if he remembered correctly, that path lead to a whole ton of bodies…well, whatever worked for her. He turned to the guards, who still haven't opened fire and quickly counted heads.

"I'm so going to hell for this," he muttered and then grinned as an idea sprung in his head. He pulled the radio out of his pocket, aiming his grin at the guards and pushed the broadcast button.

* * *

"_Oh, look at this. Twenty heavily armed guards…obviously they didn't hear my warning, very well then, let us have some fun!"_ he said and gunshots started ringing. His next choice of actions was completely baffling, and terrifying.

"_Living easy, leaving free,  
season ticket on a one-way ride.  
Asking nobody, leave me be,  
taking everything in my stride.  
Don't need reason, don't need rhyme,  
there's nothing I would rather do.  
Going down, party time,  
my friends are gonna be there too…"_

_"I'm on the highway to hell,  
on the highway to hell,  
highway to hell,  
I'm on highway to hell…"_

He started singing. No one was sure what the worst part was: the singing, because Alex couldn't sing even if his life depended on him, or the blood-curdling screams of pure agony that were in the background. Mikestopped in his tracks, bringing the whole party to a stop to look at him curiously.

"What the fuck?" Mike asked in a weak voice, having the most incredulous face everyone has ever seen. "Why in the name of fuck is he singing Highway to Hell?" he nearly shouted in confusion. All the while Alex was broadcasting his singing, and the death of the guards, to the whole building. O'Brian had to admit that it was terrifying to hear someone kill people that way…while singing happily and horribly for that matter. Meanwhile, Alex's song was still going and so were the screams…

"…_Hey Satan, paying my dues,  
playing in a rocking band.  
Hey Mama! Look at me!  
I'm on my way to the promised land…woo!"_

_"I'm on the highway to hell,  
On the highway to hell,  
Highway to hell,  
I'm on the highway to hell…"_

At this point both the screaming and the singing stopped, much to everyone's relief on the latter and horror on the former. The sound of Alex clearing his throat was heard.

"_Fuck…so much blood, I'm all soaked…"_ he lamented and O'Brian couldn't help but catch Mike's incredulous look at him. _"Uh, apologies for you having to endure my singing, I know I'm not that good at it…" _and with that, much welcomed silence stayed in the hallways, broken only by the hurried footsteps of the team.

"Fuck…how the hell did we catch him?" Mike asked in amazement. The guy just dispatched twenty heavily armed guards, or at least that was he said. "I thought he said he didn't like killing!" he said, receiving a nod from Jack.

They moved on, welcoming the silence of the corridors, without the sounds of the now-homicidal Alex tearing the place apart. O'Brian had to admit that Alex was using a sound tactic. Right now his own team was at disarray from what they heard Alex do. Not only the guy could beat twenty armed guards, but he was apparently smart enough to scare the crap out of trained soldiers.

Sounds of someone in heavy boots running brought them to a stop. The sound soon amplified and more joined in and seconds later gunshots echoed through the hallways. Jack cursed under his breath and Mike and Derrick took out their handguns. They moved on, knowing that the elevator was close but so was Alex, if the gunshots – and now the screams that joined in – were any indication.

They moved on in haste, turning around a corner which lead them to a hallway with a T-intersection at its end. They were halfway to the intersection when they saw a man, an guard if his uniform was any indication, covered head to toe with blood come from around the corner, shooting his submachine gun at an unseen target. He was quickly silenced when…something collided with him with terrifying speed. The splatter of blood that flew in all directions and the tangle of limbs that the guard became told them that the object that was thrown at him was the remains of a man.

Two more men came from the same direction of the first guard but unlike the first, these were shot down under a heavy hail of bullets. The team froze in their tracks, Derrick and O'Brian pointing their handguns at the intersection, waiting for whatever – most probably Alex – killed these guards.

Nothing broke the silence; only the echoing sounds of wet footsteps could be heard. The whole team, including Amy, was holding their breaths. O'Brian knew that if Alex did want to kill them, they wouldn't stand a single chance. His team was handicapped; their dicloni unable to move and only two of them had any weapons on their person.

The wet foot steps got louder and this time a new sound reached their ears: a humming sound. After what seemed like ages, Alex, wearing only a pair of bloodied pants and covered from head to toe in blood, singing a happy tune, entered their line of sight. What was surprising wasn't the MP5 submachine gun that he held in his hands, but the five submachine-guns that were floating all around him. O'Brian gulped at the sight. Alex stopped in place and turned his head to them and with it turned the floating weapons. At first, his face was an emotionless mask but he caught them off guard when suddenly when he suddenly gave them a wide grin.

"Fancy meeting you here!" he remarked, spreading his arms wide and discarding the sub-machine gun that he held and the five weapons stopped aiming at them, much to the sergeants relief and he ordered Derrick to lower his weapon, much to Jack's chagrin.

"Uh…yeah," O'Brian responded.

"While I did end up here because of you, you did left Kitty there as far as I know," he said and O'Brian heard the hint of a question in his voice so he gave him a nod. "Good, because of that, I won't kill you," he finished cheerfully.

"What…what are you doing? Andrew asked hesitantly. While he was relieved that Alex wasn't trying to kill them and he said he will let them go alive and in one piece, he wasn't sure he could really trust the guy.

"Me? Oh, I'm planning on finishing this clusterfuck of a hellhole," he answered, throwing Amy a wink when he saw her surprised expression. "Hell yeah, when I'm done here Hiroshima will look like a flower field compared to this! Now, I'm not planning on killing you so stop being so tense already," he remarked. "Fuck, ill even escort you to the exit since it's in the same direction!"

The sergeant looked at him with surprise. This guy was now offering them to get out of here? "Uh, why would you want to do that?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh, well, you did do what I asked and I don't think they will be glad to see you leave with this little girl in tow. It's called theft, you know…not that I have anything against you doing that," he explained, gesturing at Amy. "Look, you can leave alone, or you can leave while I clear the freaking way for you and the girl might cover my back while I'm doing so."

O'Brian considered his options. Alex pointed out a fine detail. Who said Kakuzawa's men will allow them to leave with Amy? While he didn't really care that much about the girl, it was obvious that Mike was pretty attached to her and she did save his ass there. He gave him a nod gestured him to lead the way.

Alex did so and started making his way to the elevator which was already in sight. He allowed the smile to drop from his face. He was rather sickened at the moment. While he was tearing that team apart, while singing no less, he was having…fun. That memory made him feel sick to the stomach. He hoped he will never experience such a thing again. He kept reminding himself that these were the bad guys, working in the place that tortured little girls on daily basis.

'_Kill them…'_ that voice whispered in his mind. The voice started appearing whenever he met any guards or other people.

'_Oh, shut the fuck up, I'm not killing them,'_ he replied harshly and tuned out the voice, enjoying the silence that followed.

He pushed the button and waited for the others to catch up. Mike walked up to him, holding Amy in his arms and gave him an odd look. Alex returned the look questioningly.

"Highway to hell?" Mike eventually asked and Alex couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Yeah, it was…fitting at the time," he replied with a smile. With a charming 'ping' the elevator doors parted.

"So…what happened to you?" Mike asked, Amy giving him a curious look as they filed into the elevator.

Alex regarded him for a second, brushing his chin and taking on a pondering expression. "Oh, I'm not sure. It might be the double doze of anesthetics I took so I'm kind of wobbly here, it might be the fact that I'm enjoying killing all these people, which freaks me out or it might be that weird voice that keeps whispering to me that I should skin you alive and etcetera," he answered after a while, not noticing the way everyone was looking at him when he finished.

"Ah, I meant why you kill everybody all of a sudden…" Mike asked hesitantly, not sure if he should ask anything else if every answer was going to be like this one.

"Oh, that? Why the fuck not? They'll kill me without any regard and it's their fault they decided to work for that old son of a bitch. I don't like it, but I have to if I ever want to return to Kitty," he explained seriously. "I don't care how many I will have to kill. I will end this."

They continued rising in silence, not one of them wishing to say anything after Alex's words.

"This place is sick…" Alex muttered suddenly.

"I know, I've seen the experiments," O'Brian replied and Alex gave him a weird look.

"What? No, I'm not talking about these. They kept me here naked all this time and just this morning – is it morning? I lost track of time here – one of the guards was staring at my tool so much it made me shiver…freaking perverts. Watching naked underage girls is not enough for them, now they want to watch my freaking dick!" he growled out and everyone, including Amy this time, stared at him dumbly after his outburst. "Ugh, can't this elevator move faster? I don't have much time!"

"Why?" the sergeant asked.

"Because I have a killer headache, and I might OD if I use more of this shit," he gestured at his pocket, where two more syringes were held. "So either way if I won't hurry I might die from a brain hemorrhage or drop down from an OD and then have ungodly things done to my unconscious body," he said and received confused looks again, "considering how that guard was staring at my tool…I prefer dying."

An uncomfortable silence reined over the group until finally, with a jovial 'ping' the doors opened and Alex stepped out and stopped. In front of him stood an enormous group, at least twenty if he counted right, fully armed soldiers, equipped with combat armor, helmets and whatnot. The most threatening thing they had were several machineguns.

They regarded him for only a second before they all opened fire. Alex raised his vectors; dropping the sub machineguns they held in the process in an instant and all the bullets simply stopped in front of him. To his surprise three more vectors joined in with his and he looked back to see Amy give him a nod.

The bullets simply didn't stop coming and Alex found himself utterly annoyed at their relentless fire. "Let me handle them," he told Amy and her vectors receded, allowing all the bullets she captured to drop.

Alex simply added all his remaining vectors into his defense and then, simply grabbed all the bullets that were fired at him and simply…pushed. Like from a freaking shotgun from hell, all the bullets, there must've been no less than two hundreds in his grasp, were shot out at – what else? – Bullet speed at the soldiers.

The sight was utterly gruesome and blood was absolutely _everywhere_. The men that were in the front were utterly torn apart into small pieces, spraying blood and gore all over the place and the men behind them were not luckier. The bullets tore through flesh and bone and came out from the other side to bite at the next one in line. The whole process lasted for only a second or two and the chances of the soldiers knowing what the hell happened to them were slim. After the figurative smoke cleared the whole bloody scene was revealed to them. The sheer amount of blood, gore and death in front of them was simply breathtaking. Bodies were torn apart, shredded into pieces. Some were missing limbs, some simply had dozens of holes in their bodies and not a single soul moved.

"Ooh, nasty," Alex said with a remarkable impression of a British accent and started walking, earning himself incredulous looks. He simply moved on, casually stepping into the bloody corridor, his bare feet making a sickening wet sound each time they touched the floor.

O'Brian was slightly shaken by the sight: so many dead people, all dying in such a gruesome way. He was starting to feel a bit sick just from looking at the sight but no matter where he looked; blood was everywhere, even on the bloody ceiling! He sent a look back to see his team's reaction. Both Derrick and Mike looked at the scene with amazement, Jack looked rather green at the moment and Amy was looking at Alex with…admiration? He just shook his head and followed.

"Ugh, I think someone's intestines are between my fingers…" Alex muttered and shook his leg and a chunk of…something fell from his foot.

That remark sent Jack stumbling to the side, escaping Derrick's grip, and he proceeded to vomit loudly. Alex paused to look back to the heaving soldier and then simply smirked and continued walking. Once Jack was feeling better they quickly caught up with Alex. From there the path was relatively quiet and they met no one most of the time and whenever they did meet someone it was a panicking member of the personnel, much like the woman Alex met earlier.

Eventually they reached the exit. Alex paused there, looking at the exit door, or more accurately, the spot that once held Lee's dead body. He felt a wave of sadness and grief wash over him. He didn't make that promise only to himself, the promise not to kill, but he made that promise to Lee as well. If he didn't make that promise…Lee might've been alive today.

"Is everything okay?" O'Brian asked, walking closer to him.

Alex released a heavy sigh, glancing at the older man. "Right by this door…my first friend was killed," he said sadly. Andrew raised his eyebrows in surprise at that. "He helped me escape that night but when we reached the door we got into a snag. He told me to run and I did as he was told. He was almost at the door, where I was waiting, when he was shot several times in the back and killed," Alex continued, his eyes glazing over, as if he was watching something distant.

"I could've saved him, you know? I could've, but I didn't. All because I promised I won't harm humans, because of a foolish belief that if I won't hurt anyone, I will be released…" Alex continued. By now everyone was listening intently. Alex didn't know why he was telling this to them, but he felt like he needed to talk, to say this out loud. "After he died, I sort of…weakened the promise. Decided I won't kill, but harming someone, much like I did to you, was allowed. And today…I probably killed dozens of men and you know what? I don't feel anything," he said bitterly, looking at O'Brian straight in the eye. "I don't know what that makes me. I killed them and I don't give a fuck, shit, I was having fun at one point!"

O'Brian didn't know how to reply to that. This guy, who he met only a day ago, was sharing something from his past with him. Why? Who, other than Alex himself, knew?

"I don't know what to say," Andrew replied truthfully.

"I didn't ask you to say anything. It just proves that I'm a diclonius, even though I wasn't born as one. For years I've lived trying to decide what the fuck I was. I was locked here because I was a dicloni, but my mind-set was one of a human. Do I feel like infecting people and slaughtering humanity? No. Do I feel anything when I kill? No. What does that show me? I don't know what, maybe that I'm an apathetic asshole? I don't know and by this point I don't really give a fuck. I am what I am, and I am planning to end this," he finished with determination.

He walked forward to the T-intersection: one way lead outside and the other one to the place where this all will end. He reached a crossroad. He could leave, return to Kitty and stay with her until he would either die or she will leave him, or…he could end this, change the fate of the dicloni. He never considered it from this point of view, nor did he ever planned on calling it like that but as he moved on, killed more guards he realized that what he was planning to do might change the future for the entire diclonius race. What was left now…was to make a choice.

"This way will lead you outside," he said, pointing at the exit door. "I hope you can pilot a chopper because the only way out that I know of is to swim."

O'Brian nodded to him but noticed the glance Alex sent to the corridor next to them. "What about you?" he asked.

Alex chuckled at the question. "I don't know about me. Maybe ill die here, maybe ill survive and try to swim back to Kamakura…doesn't really matter. I have business here," he stated with a smirk directed at O'Brian.

"Do you want us to wait for you? I can pilot the chopper," Andrew said, already understanding what was on Alex's mind. He didn't really care about Kakuzawa but he could easily agree that the institute was an abomination. And if Kakuzawa was killed in the process, it was only an improvement.

"Hah, growing friendly are you?" Alex joked, starting to walk away to the corridor. "I don't know, it's up to you. I'm not sure ill even get back. I feel like shit right now…anyway, whether you will wait or not, perhaps ill see you later," he gave them a two fingered salute and disappeared around the corner.

O'Brian gave him one last look before he motioned for his team to follow.

* * *

Alex calmly walked through the corridors, guided by some unseen force to his objective. He didn't meet any resistance – one that could actually hold him off – and all that while he began to feel more and more exhausted.

Eventually he reached his target: an elevator at the end of a long hallway. This floor was more or less the 'public' floor, since this floor didn't hold anything that might indicate what was happening below. Perhaps that was the reason he hadn't met more than a handful of guards on this floor…

Pushing the button he patiently waiting for the elevator to rise, using the spare time to inject himself with another dosage from the painkillers, which started to wear off by the time he reached the elevator. By this time he was filling a bit dizzy and he wasn't sure if he could feel the tips of his fingers anymore. His vision blurred from time to time but he ignored that as well. He would worry about it when he was done.

The elevator doors opened and he stepped in, pressing the button for the topmost floor. If he was right – and he was sure that he was – Kakuzawa was there. For some unexplained reason, assholes like the old bastards preferred to be higher than everyone else, literally. That's why they always were in skyscrapers, just so they could stay in the top floor.

He wasn't sure how long it will take him to get up but he used the time to regain whatever strength that he lost on the way here and took out from his blood-soaked pocket another object he picked up from Asahiro…

* * *

Kakuzawa watched in anger his monitors. It showed him how Alpha-One tore through his defense with ease and even helped that damned O'Brian and his team to escape! He wasn't about to let that go unpunished. He opened the drawer of his table and pulled out a magnum handgun. Right now, Alpha was making his way to his floor but Alpha didn't know that he expected that and made the preparations for his arrival…he chuckled darkly and continued to watch the monitors.

* * *

The doors opened and right off the bat, without any warning, a hail of bullets rained down upon him. None of the even got close to him but it was annoying nonetheless. He stepped out of the elevator in a bored fashion, seeing the dozen guards that stood ready for him.

Dispatching them was no hard, not at all. In just a minute he was already walking away, leaving bloody footprints on the floor. There wasn't much on this floor and he decided that he guessed correctly: this floor was Kakuzawa's private sector.

He walked through the corridor, almost on autopilot. His mind was partially blank by now, fueled only by the thought of ending this and coming back to his lover. He turned around the corner and immediately dived back as a hail of bullets, and a large wave of flames broke him out of his stupor.

'_They have a freaking flamethrower!'_ he thought in shock. He peeked from around the corner and saw the soldiers, all guarding a door. The worst part was that they were out of his vector range. Nodding, mostly to himself, he unleashed his vectors and sent them into the ceiling, from where the snaked to the guards. Feeling that he reached his range limit, he pushed down with all him vector might.

The guards, who were unsuspecting of his vectors, never expected a large portion of the ceiling to suddenly topple in front of them, and never expected the dicloni to suddenly rush them through the breaking ceiling.

Alex would've brushed his vectors from dust if it was possible. So far, there were no problems and everything was going exactly as he planned. He walked over and pushed the metal door open. Behind the door a large room was revealed to him. It was almost entirely empty, other than several pieces of furniture. He walked inside, intent of getting to the door that was on the other side of the room; however, before he could even reach the middle of the room the door suddenly opened and from there stepped out three figures.

Alex looked at them with slight confusion, seeing the pinkish hair, horns and the general lack of clothes. The oddest thing that he noticed was the weird…metallic thing that was on their foreheads. Whatever it was, it didn't matter at the moment, he ha more pressing matters at the moment.

He stood in place, looking as the blank-faced dicloni started pacing around him. He stood his ground, trying to think of a way to beat them. It was just like in the old days: a large room, two doors on each side and a pair of dicloni beating the shit out of each other. He faced two at once before, and it didn't end that well.

"You know who you're protecting, right?" He asked the girls. All three of them were of the same age, being around ten years old. He wasn't exactly comfortable with hitting little kids, but it was either that or get himself torn apart.

The girls didn't answer. In fact, they didn't even react to his words, at all. Something was wrong and Alex guessed it had something to do with these weird metal things that were on their foreheads. Why would someone willingly wear something like that?

One of the girls lashed out at him, sending a single vector to dispatch him. Alex smirked at that. No sane dicloni will attack him with a single vector. They should've just overwhelmed him with sheer amount of vectors but apparently they were underestimating him. He decided that he should end this as soon as possible.

He deftly dodged the vector by jumping to the side and reacted by lashing out with three of his own. Two of his vectors clashed with her single one while the last one zipped past them in a slashing motion. The girl dropped to the floor in a dull thud, her head dropping down a second later, rolling away several feet away from the body.

Alex winced at the sight and jumped to the far corner of the room, away from the remaining two. He didn't want to kill them but today he was going to do what the institute tried to teach him for years: No mercy. He was going past this room, and nothing will stop him, even if it meant killing little girls…

He zipped from side to side in a zigzag pattern, dodging vectors that missed him only by a hairbreadth and retaliating with his own strike. The girls were ready this time and with uncanny agility jumped out of the vector's path. A sudden burst of pain on his side sent him stumbling to the side and then another one sent him flying into the wall. The force of the impact sent cracks running along the wall. He toppled down, breathless and on his knees. He coughed several times, clutching his wounded side, blood sipping through his finger. It was a shallow cut, nothing lethal but he could still feel it, even through the numbness that the painkillers drowned him with.

He got back up to his feet and jumped to the side just in time to avoid being crushed by six vectors. He unleashed all the vectors he could, and to his surprise twelve vectors came out. He didn't put much thought into this, having no time to mull over things and simply brought down the dozen vectors down…right on top one of the girls.

The impact sent pieces of the floor into the air and a small spray of blood, which looked like a red mist. When the vectors lifted up, what was left of the girl as a bloody, broken and lifeless body.

It was now the familiar one-on-one situation that he was trained in. In this situation, he won't be beaten. The last remaining girl didn't flinch, or react in any other way when the two other were killed, something that told him that there was something truly wrong with them. All dicloni had a sense of self-preservation and when faced against odds that were against them, survival was the preferred outcome. The simple fact that they protected _Kakuzawa _of all people already told him that this trio was fucked up beyond reason.

The girl charged at him, four vectors swiping around like a buzz saw that will shred him if he got in its way but Alex easily jumped out above her and just like he did with Amy – who dodged this attack – he sent three vectors when he was passing above her. The vectors buried themselves into her head with a crushing punch, sending her face first into the ground. She wasn't finished yet but Alex wasn't about to let her get back up again, ever. The same three vectors grabbed her legs and pulled her up to forcefully smash her face first into the ground again…and again. When blood was freely leaking from her face he released her from his hold, allowing her lifeless body to drop down.

He spat in disgust, both at himself and at how fucked up the three girls were. As the day moved on he began to hate himself more and more. He killed dozens of guards and soldiers in the most gruesome ways possible and now…now he kill three children that had their whole lives ahead of them…he paused at that thought. Perhaps they didn't have a real life ahead of them after all, since Kakuzawa wasn't about to release them, and he doubted there would be a future to anyone in this facility if he will fail.

He stood up from his kneeling position, panting and slightly out of breath. He shakily walked towards the last door and hopefully, the last one. He walked through the door and much to his relief, it was the last room.

It was a large office with a large window behind a desk, and behind the desk sat Kakuzawa himself who was glaring daggers at him. If looks could kill…

"What do you think you're doing?" Kakuzawa asked angrily.

"I'm ending this," Alex said, still panting slightly. Kakuzawa looked over the young man in front of him, covered in blood and sweat, shakily standing on his feet. He snorted in disgust.

"Half-blood vermin like you shouldn't exist. Look at yourself, you can barely stand," the old man said dismissively.

"Before I kill you…I want to know where," Alex said hoarsely, "Where is my sister?"

"Why? Why do you want to find her? You're different than her," Kakuzawa asked with a smirk.

"Not any longer…where is she?"

"Ahh, not any longer…you broke your promise I see," Kakuzawa remarked.

"Yeah, I did. I regret I ever made it…" Alex said bitterly, "now answer my question you old son of a bitch!"

It happened too quickly for anyone to notice. Kakuzawa whipped out his pistol, taking aim at Alex's head but before the man could pull the trigger, the gun was suddenly crushed into a small ball…along with Kakuzawa's hand. He screamed in pain and clutched at his crushed and bleeding hand.

"You want to know where your bitch of a sister is? She dead! She was the most bloodthirsty dicloni I've ever seen! She's dead!" Kakuzawa shouted in rage and pain.

Alex didn't come to hear this. With a swift movement Kakuzawa's table was crushed into splinters. "Don't tell me your fucking lies! Where the _fuck_ is she?" he roared in his face. Kakuzawa only started to laugh manically.

"You're threats are futile. You won't kill me because only I know where your sister is!" he shouted back.

Alex remained silent for several moments before he spoke up, his voice barely above a whisper. "Why? Why did you do all this? Why did you ruin my life?" there was so much rage in him at that moment that he could barely speak.

"Why? You want to know why? Because I am the god of your race!" the old man roared, using his uninjured arm to pull down his hair – which was a wig – to reveal a bald head and a pair of horns. "I am the god of our race! It's my rightful place! Once I find Lucy I will breed a new race which will revere me as a god. I am a god and you…you are an anomaly, a _failed_ prototype!" he shouted, smiling manically. Alex glared at him but allowed him to continue, wanting to know what he was talking about.

"You were born as a mere human with a skull defect, like me. But while you're insignificant, I have true dicloni blood flowing through me. I am a pure dicloni, just like my ancestors were, while you are a simple anomaly, a filthy half-blood. Your fool of a father thought that we will help you but he decided to kill himself when he found out what was going on with you. You were supposed to show me how to get my vectors, but you were a failure," he growled at him.

"You had everything I needed, but you failed. Look at yourself, exhausted after using some of your vectors. You are a failure and a half-blood vermin. Do you know how Lee even knew about your sister?" Kakuzawa asked, grinning manically.

Alex didn't respond. He simply took one step forward.

"Both Lee and your father were working here and they both knew each other well and when you and your sister were born, your father was weak and ended his life but Lee knew everything about you and your sister…"

Alex simply stared at him. This man was…disgusting him. The reason why his life was ruined…was this selfish man. Lee died because of him; hundreds of children were killed because of him. This man committed genocide and thought of himself as a god. He had only one conclusion. This man was insane.

"You are disgusting," Alex finally said, shutting Kakuzawa up. "You killed…murdered hundreds of children for a selfish ambition. You're not a dicloni, you're an idiot with a skull defect. I might be a half-blood, but I'm half diconi more than you. I've been called a monster in here but the real monster is you," he said monotone.

"I am a god! You are nothing to me!" Kakuzawa shouted in outrage, pointing a finger at him.

"And I'm glad for it. I am disgusted that I ever met you," Alex snarled and took several steps forward.

"You can't do this to me, how else will you find your sister?"

"I'll find her one way or the other. She might be dead, she might be alive. It doesn't matter," He finished. "It ends here now…you failed."

When Alex said these words Kakuzawa suddenly felt something take hold of his throat. The next thing he felt his head collide with the broken remains of his table. After that he was lifted into the air and then he felt himself being pressed against the window that was behind him. Alex was looking straight into his eyes. "Good bye," Alex said and with one final push, Kakuzawa found himself falling through the air.

Alex heard his scream, which was gradually growing more and more distant until it was abruptly cut off. He walked to the edge of the broken window and looked down, where he saw the broken body of Kakuzawa. He walked back to the broken table and took out the device that was in the pocket, a small recorder. Apparently, Asahiro liked listening to his own voice and this fact served his purpose. He pushed the stop button and put it on the broken table. This was the major plan he had…the authorities were bound to come and investigate the deaths of so many people and he had readied this for them. A sudden shuffling sound made him tense and he looked at the source. There was a woman looking at him from a side room.

"Is there anyone who might continue his work?" Alex asked her. The young woman looked like a secretary or something of the like and she carried a large stack of papers with her. She flinched for a second before she gathered herself.

"No…there isn't one as far as I know," she replied. Alex nodded at that and walked back to the window.

It wasn't enough…he took another step forward and started falling down but before he could pick up speed his vectors latched on to the walls, leaving deep hand imprints. He was climbing down hastily and when he was almost on the ground he softened the landing with his vectors. Even with the vectors the landing was too much for him. He tumbled down, attempting to enter a roll to soften the impact, only partially succeeding to do a half roll to end up on his back.

He lied there for who knew how long, panting, trying to catch his breath and stabilize his vision, which was swimming. After several minutes after he could see clearly he climbed to his feet and staggered to the body of Kakuzawa. The old man was laying there, his legs in an unnatural angle, a small puddle of blood surrounding his head.

He stood there, staring at the body of the man that was responsible for so many deaths and so many ruined lives. He didn't deserve to die like that; he gave him a quick death. He should've slowly torn him apart from the inside, organ by organ, made the man scream in agony and drown in his own blood…but he didn't. He just gave him a quick death and…he felt nothing. He was expecting to feel something, pleasure at the death of the man who ruined so many lives, including his. Satisfaction to see his dead body…but there was none of that. Nothing at all. In fact, now that he thought about it felt even emptier than before.

Right there he understood that Kakuzawa was not the only who died that die. The only thing that was tying him with this place, made him who he was, died along with Kakuzawa. Alex sighed, half in relief and half in exhaustion and started walking away to the direction of the helipads.

Test Subject Prototype Alpha-One was dead. After all these years…he was finally dead.

* * *

O'Brian was sitting in the pilot seat. He wasn't a pilot but he knew how to operate this thing well enough without crashing them into a tree or a building. Or the ground…

"Andrew, how long are we going to wait?" Derrick asked him quietly. They've been waiting here, after dispatching the men that guarded the helipad, for at least ten minutes now.

"I have no idea…five more minutes maybe," the sergeant responded. The sniper nodded and sat back more peacefully.

"So what are we going to do now?" Amy asked quietly.

"I don't know, we're probably going to work for someone more…inviting than Kakuzawa, after we get that bomb out of you," Mike answered and Amy looked at him incredulously.

Removing the bomb…Amy didn't know what to say to that. It only proved that Mike trusted her that she won't hurt them. It made her feel warm for some reason and…accepted. "W-why?" she stuttered.

"Well, in our line of business one of us might die some day. You don't want to spontaneously blow up, do you?" he asked her with a grin. Amy numbly shook her head. "Besides, you're a good girl, aren't you?"

The last words made her laugh. "If you can call a murderous monster a good girl…than yes," she replied to him.

"Nah, you're not a monster…you're just misunderstood," he said to her, still smiling.

Before Amy could respond Jack interrupted them. "Look!" he announced and everyone turned to look at where he was pointing.

Alex, bloody and bruised, was staggering towards them, a blank expression on his face. He slowly made his way to them and then casually stepped inside their vehicle.

"Are you okay?" O'Brian asked. Alex didn't look at him, simply collapsing into one of the seats.

"No, I feel like shit," he answered, "But thanks for asking."

O'Brian gave him a nod and started the engine. Soon enough the rumble of the rotors drowned all other sound. "Drop me off at the beach!" he heard Alex yell over the noise. He offered him a nod to tell him that he heard him and finally after everything was ready the helicopter took off the ground.

* * *

Kitty sat on the bench looking at the place where she first met Alex. She sort of…escaped the Maple Inn this morning to come to this place. She doubted that the residents will let her freely walk out of the house so she took matters into her own hands. She was exhausted, having cried herself to sleep very late that night and not being able to sleep peacefully. Her eyes were swollen, a few tears escaping to slowly trail down her face.

This was the place where she first saw him. He wanted to help her but she simply brushed him aside…and then he smashed a rock into her head. She couldn't help but chuckle bitterly at that. What kind of people met that way?

The small path was mostly deserted and the people who walked by gave no regard to the silently crying girl. She was a walking wreck, she knew that. She caught a glimpse at the mirror when she left and she looked like crap, as Alex would've put it.

It was all her fault, she knew that and she kept telling this to herself. Because she decided to take matters into her own hands, instead of telling it to Alex or Kaede, she decided to solve he problem by herself…and screwed up royally. She fucked up and there was no doubt about it. Because of her, Alex was captured and she was left alone…again. And she deserved it. She didn't know how long she was sitting there, only that she left during early morning when no one saw her and now the sun was high in its peak. She didn't care really. She just sat there, thinking over her time with Alex and savoring all the memories that she had.

A loud gasp and a yelp brought her out of her musing. She lifted her head to see what was going on, guessing that someone probably recognized her from that week-old news broadcast, but when she looked she was rather surprised to see a woman with her child running away, and not from her. She quirked an eyebrow in confusion and looked at what scared them so…and she froze.

Alex barely managed to climb the stairs. Like he asked him, O'Brian landed the chopper on the beach and then took off, leaving an annoyed Alex with at least two pounds of sand on his person. Who knew it could kick up so much sand? Immediately upon landing he took notice that Kitty was out of Maple Inn. He knew it was her, without any doubt. He knew how her presence felt like without even trying, he knew it better than his own hand. He staggered through the whole town to her location, taking slight satisfaction at the sheer amount of civilians he frightened with his mere appearance. Yeah, he summarized that he indeed looked like crap. Finally, after what seemed to be like hours he managed to reach Kitty, taking note that it was the place where they first met.

Now that the painkillers finally left his system, his head was sending wave after wave of anguishing pain. Heck, it wasn't pain…it was sheer agony. He felt like someone smashed a sledgehammer on his head. Repeatedly. For several days.

The only thing that kept him going was the thought that Kitty was only several dozen feet away. He concentrated on placing one leg in front of the other, pushing himself up the cursed stairs and when he was finally up, triumphant, he saw the girl he loved, right after he startled a woman and her child into a flight course that would take them far away from him.

For lack of a better word…she looked like crap. A lot – ridiculously a lot – better than him, but still, she looked like crap. Her eyes were swollen; her cheeks red and slightly tear-stricken and she simply looked at him in disbelief, grief and simple shock. Alex shakily walked over to her, his feet still slightly leaving bloody footprints from several cuts that were there. He barely felt his limbs right there and his vision was…not at its best at the moment. He stooped several feet away from her, the momentum making him lean forward but he righted himself in time before he would topple over. He simply stood there, watching her silently, watching her reactions.

Kitty shakily stood up and looked at the bloody, bruised and unstable Alex. She saw how he simply walked and felt her breath hitch. Was this a hallucination? Seeing a half dead Alex wasn't exactly what she was planning to do today…tears started leaking anew at the sight of his appearance.

"Damn, that's the second time today that my simple appearance caused a woman to cry…am I really that ugly?" Alex said to her, smirking slightly, his eyes partially unfocused.

That was all that was needed to assure her that he was real. She walked over to him and caught him in a crushing hug, not caring that he smeared her with blood, whether it was his own or someone else's. Alex staggered slightly backwards, Kitty's momentum nearly causing him to fall down but she held him steady, much to his relief.

"You're back…" she whispered to him. Alex looked her in the eyes, smiling as he held her in his numb arms.

"Hell yeah, you wont be getting rid of me that easily. I'll walk through hell to get back at you," he replied with a smirk.

"Alex…" she whispered again and buried him with a passionate, needy kiss, which he gladly returned.

In that, moment all the thoughts of what he'd done today, all the death, all the blood and that awful piece of…something that was caught between his foot's fingers…that was simply traumatizing. Right now, there was only him and Kitty. He felt pure relief at that moment; realizing that it was truly over, that this day was finally over and he could simply…sleep.

They broke the kiss, Kitty looking at his with relief and pure bliss, and Alex looking slightly unfocused. His vision was swimming, almost looking like a tunnel vision as the edges of his vision were darkening. He managed to smile one more time before everything darkened and he started falling forward, not hearing Kitty's distraught cry of surprise.

* * *

**Okay! The chapter is DONE! Woo! I hope i got Kakuzawa in character, since i always thought he was rather insane anyway...**

**So...this chapter is now over. The next chapter will probably be the last one, sadly, and the story will be completed. Anyway, the next chapter will be the concluding one, unless i suddenly get a miraculous plot bunny which will give me so many things that i could write a sequel. Constructive criticism is welcomed here and so are suggestions and simple opinions. Dont be afraid to say what's on your mind and leave them in a review or a pm, whatever's you prefer. :) Until next time, Delvaro out.  
**


	16. Conclusion

**Hello there! Well, here it is. The last chapter. I have to say, it was hard to write this one, both because its the last chapter and because i wasnt really sure how i wanted this chapter to look like. Its one of the reasons it took me this long to update it, unlike with the last chapters which took me only around 1 day to write. I pondered about this for quite a while and eventually this is how it looks. :) I'm still not sure whether its good-looking as i planned it to be, but...well, we shall see. Enjoy it and have fun reading it.**_  


* * *

So what did I accomplish? I really __don't have any clue. Have I done what is called 'justice', or was it just a case of revenge?_

_What is justice? It's a hard thing to distinguish. It's to do the fair thing I guess. When someone murders someone, and you kill the murderer, in some effect, that is justice. But…to the person the justice is enacted upon…will it be justice, or injustice? It's a matter of opinion I think. A good deed for one will be a bad deed for another. My kind, the diclonius, pretty much did some screwed up things, horrible things and we truly can replace humanity in only several years and some of us truly are…monsters. So does that mean that justice was enacted upon us? That because some of us are monsters, they were doing the right thing by keeping us locked and studied? Does that make Kakuzawa a good man?_

_Hell no. He pretty much admitted that he was insane. But does that make me, a man who slaughtered dozens of people, who didn't wrong me in any way other than being in my way, just to get to one man…does that make me the good guy in this situation? I'm not sure; once again, it's a matter of opinion. Some people will frown upon this; some people will say I did the right thing. I can't be sure until the consequences will catch up with me, but I know this:_

_I changed our fates. Every single one of us – ones that I know of – have been burdened by the knowledge that the institute still existed, and possibly still pursued us. Kitty had nightmares from her time in that place, often waking up in night, sweating and breathing heavily, her eyes blinking in the darkness to make sure she was really in our bed. I know that Kaede and Nana have the same worries. Kaede now lives with the man she loves and she fears that her past will catch up with her and take him, or her, away from each other. She never told me this, but it's obvious to see. Nana has found a family, a place where she belongs and enjoys life. I know for sure that she won't be happy if it will be taken away from her._

_And me. I lived for years among the humans, always keeping a low profile because I feared that someone might recognize me, notice my abnormality (that was until I lost my horns) and always taking looks behind my back. Some people call it paranoia and I simply can't deny that I'm paranoid. I built my own life from scavenging for food in trashcans to having my own apartment and a job. I feared I might lose what I worked for, lose my life._

_It is a burden that all of us shared and a burden that I freed us from and possibly, many more who were yet to be captured or already managed to escape. I freed us from that burden so we could live freely, without worrying that an old man who should've died ages ago will come hunting us down. _

_By destroying the Institute, destroying Kakuzawa, I destroyed the only thing that tied us down to our past lives, or rather lack of them. How many dicloni will continue living free? And how many more will continue killing? I do not know, and I sometimes wish I will never find out. The ones in the facility…what will happen to them? I don't doubt that they will be freed – or free themselves – now, when nothing will be there to stop them. I gave them another chance for life, to find a purpose. Perhaps even to be loved. I did not find my sister, which saddens me a bit. She is my sibling, my blood. Whether she is as bloodthirsty as Kakuzawa claimed, I don't care. Family is, after all, still family. If needed, I will just send her to the right path, if I will ever find her…but I hope that she is somewhere among those dicloni that I freed, or among these that escaped that place. Or maybe she's dead._

_All these events lead me to my last question: how will I be remembered? As the man who saved his kind from the living hell they experienced? Or as the man who unleashed hell upon humanity in the form of invisible vectors?_

_Alex _

* * *

"Twelve days after the events on the institute several miles from the city of Kamakura, police still have no clue about the whereabouts of the main suspect, a young male who answers to the name 'Alpha-One', who according to evidence, murdered over fifty armed guards and the director of the institute, Dr. Kakuzawa," said the reporter, a large building in the background with many vehicles, other news crews and armed personnel. "We are now on the island where the institute is located where the police, upon reaching the scene, have found dozens of severely mutilated bodies and most importantly, over a hundred girls between the ages of four and seventeen kept underground in horrible conditions, bordering on torturous."

The reported gestured with her hands at the area behind her, indicating the various vehicles and people milling about. "What is the most amazing find in this case, are the evidence that indicate that these girls are not human, but a new race called Diclonius who according to eyewitnesses and various evidence, have the ability to manifest _telekinetic 'arms'_ to do their bidding," the reporter paused and approached a man in his thirties in a police uniform. "In front of us is Hiraji Saito, who is one of the officers that were first on sight. Saito can you tell us what you've seen?" she asked him.

"When we first arrived there was a lot of blood, that I can tell you," said Saito, visibly nervous to be in front of the camera. "The second things were the girls. The conditions they were kept in are awful and practically all girls are suffering from severe malnourishment. Animals are kept in better conditions, by tenfold. To tell you the truth, I'm not sorry that Kakuzawa is dead, a man that keeps little girls as prisoners and experiments on them…I have no respect for them," Saito continued, saying the last words in deadly seriousness.

"What can you tell us about the dicloni?" the reporter asked.

"They are human in appearance, the main defining feature being a pair of bone protrusions on their heads, or horns if you want to call it that, and having distinguishable hair, which is usually of various shades of pink or red," Saito answered, hesitantly. "Most the girls kept here are mostly hostile to us but I cant really blame them considering what they went through and so far we are keeping them here and called in the specialists. For now, we fear moving them to any other place, considering what they can do and we offer them treatment to improve their health. Soon enough psychological experts should arrive and hopefully in a few weeks we might be able to move them if their hostility will cease," Saito explained.

"They are hostile?" the reporter asked worriedly.

"Yes…we already lost two men…" Saito said sadly. "We took a different approach after that. We just leave them supplies and they do what they want with it. We keep our distance," the officer explained. "Overall, most of them did not openly attack us but they are not forthcoming."

"So…are they a threat to us?" the reporter asked the most important question.

"So far, we can't be sure. Only time will tell I guess. They can be dangerous but so far they haven't went on a killing spree. We are not holding them here without their will. According to information we recovered, Alpha-One was a dicloni as well. He escaped and cut a clear path through all the defenses this place had and in the end killed Kakuzawa, killing over fifty fully armed men in the process. That is how dangerous they can be…" Saito said grimly.

"Regarding this 'Alpha-One'…who is he?"

"We do not fully know. We gathered that he escaped this place four years ago and was recently captured. A day after his capture, he escaped again but this time he decided to finish Kakuzawa. We know for sure that he killed him and we have security camera footage of him making his way through the facility and a message that he left for us, including a conversation he had with Kakuzawa but so far, its contents are classified," he added when he saw the reporters hungry look, "we are interrogating the surviving personnel that saw Alpha and gathered enough evidence to conclude that this 'Alpha' person might not be entirely stable. Also, we have several eyewitnesses telling us that on the day of his escape, they saw a young man similar to Alpha in appearance, apparently covered in blood, walking through the streets of Kamakura and later that day he disappeared and we have yet to find any leads on him."

"I see, thank you for your time," The reporter said and Saito left with a nod. "And there you have it," she said, turning to the camera. "The full story of the events on this island is still not known but new information is released every day. Later tonight a special will be released, involving the lead psychiatrists in the country as they will discuss the matter of the new race. Diclonius, friend or foe, watch it tonight, only on our channel."

"We received earlier this day a picture of the murderer, Alpha-One, so the public will know to stay away from him on sight. In case someone sees the man, immediately call the police and let them handle him. This man is not stable and extremely dangerous," the reporter said in all seriousness.

* * *

A picture appeared on the screen, showing a shirtless young man, slightly covered in blood, with ruffled hair, a smirk on his face and hand up in the air, middle finger bluntly displayed.

Jirou, who at that time was casually drinking beer and watching the news in a half-interested manner spat out all the contents of his mouth when the picture appeared on the screen. He just watched in silent shock for a minute, staring at the now beer-soaked TV screen. He knew this kid…the kid lived with him for several years and he was like a son to him. Now, all out of the blue, the same kid is an extremely dangerous psychopath who murdered more than fifty armed men…

"What the fuck!" he nearly shouted, confused beyond reason.

* * *

Kitty frowned a bit at the mention of the words 'unstable'. In her opinion Alex was very much stable. It's been nearly two weeks since Kitty returned all of a sudden, dragging a half-dead Alex with her. For all that time Alex has never woke up, though sometimes entering into a semi-conscious state for several seconds but soon after that, he returned to his unconscious state. Kohta summarized that Alex was in a coma, having heard Alex's explanation once on what will happen should Alex use too many vectors. None of them knew what to do and they wholeheartedly agreed that a hospital was completely out of the question. They took care of him as much as they could, had little luck with feeding him and carefully forcing water into his mouth. He survived though and was still in his forceful sleep – if it could be called sleep – and hasn't showed any signs of recovery. None of them were doctors and they didn't really know what to do about this situation.

Kitty was in a worse state than before. For days she refused to eat, spending hours after hours near Alex's unresponsive body. The residents tried to assure her that everything will be fine, even though it was obvious to Kitty that they didn't have the slightest clue on what to do to make it alright, but had no luck. The same results were met whenever someone tried to get her out of the room, even Kaede tried, but Kitty was stubborn. Eventually, on the tenth day she seemed to give up, slightly. She finally started to eat normally and stopped spending all the day by his side. She still stayed there quite a long time, but at least now she came out to eat or spend a bit with the other residents.

This evening Kitty decided to spend with the others. Right now she sat on the floor near the couch – which was occupied by Kaede and Kohta – watching the TV with them, which was showing the news regarding the once-dreadful institute.

Another reason why they were watching the news all of a sudden was Alex. They didn't know how he managed to escape, and kill Kakuzawa in the process and the man in question – who could tell them – wasn't able to speak at the moment. That's why they resorted to the 'other' source of information: the news. It was quite a shock to them when all of a sudden the institute was in the TV, an announcement that Kakuzawa was dead and the one responsible for his death was not caught yet. It was quite interesting to see how the world reacted about the dicloni. After the police arrived to the island, around a week later the information on the diclonius race was revealed – whether leaked or published, that was unknown – and now, practically the whole world knew about them. It was on the news every day, in fact, it's all that was on TV, period. It was rather satisfactory to see that the late Kakuzawa has not received much sympathy because of his methods.

A picture appeared on the screen, with a shirtless, a bit blood-stained Alex flipping the bird to the camera, a triumphant smirk on his face. Kitty had to admit that he looked rather awesome like that, if a bit badass. She knew it was the way he was, with that 'I-don't-give-a-fuck' attitude that he had…it added some charm to him. She was, though, a bit disappointed of the quick death he gave Kakuzawa…throwing him out of a window seemed like mercy when compared to what she would've done to him.

"Damn, they're not even using the good pictures…" an unexpected voice suddenly spoke from behind them, causing Kitty to gasp and turn her head in such speed that she could've broken her neck.

Alex stood there, shirtless, leaning against the wall, looking slightly haggard and pale, most probably from the lack of food. He was looking at the screen with a slight frown. "Seriously, they could've found at least ten pictures more awesome than this one, though I guess it's the only one where I'm…clean and presentable," he murmured.

"Alex!" Kitty cried, jumping to her feet and running full speed at Alex. The male dicloni managed to raise his arms in defense, catching her with his arms to hold her close but her momentum proved to be more powerful than him. They fell back with a thud and an 'Ow!' from Alex. Kitty hurriedly got up from him with a worried look on her face.

"Ow…be careful, my head is still fucked up and all my muscles feel like marshmallow…" he muttered with a pout.

"You're finally awake. How do you feel?" Kohta asked, walking over to him with Kaede in tow and offering him a hand.

"A bit crappy, honestly. How long was I out? I can guess that it wasn't that long, considering none of us look that older and I still don't have a good beard to be proud of…" Alex replied, taking the hand and pulling himself of the ground.

"Uh…" Kohta drawled, not sure how to answer the beard remark. "You were unconscious for twelve days actually," he replied, deciding to ignore those words.

"Oh, almost two weeks…haven't beaten my record then. Last time was a month," he remarked, scratching his chin. "So what changed? I see that the dicloni are on the news now," he said with a weak smile.

"Yes, after you killed Kakuzawa the dicloni are public knowledge, how, I don't know…but the important thing is that Kakuzawa doesn't get much sympathy," Kaede spoke, giving him a rare smile.

"Hah, I noticed. I woke up and got down here just in time to see the cop talk about me. Unstable my ass, I'm as stable as I can be. Kakuzawa on the other hand…" he said in length. "It's good though…the ones still in the facility might have a chance for a normal life…or as normal as it might be for one of our kind," he said, pondering the future. Realizing that thinking of such things only enhanced his already king-sized headache, he decided to drop the matter. "So Kohta, my man…how do you live with the fact that you're housing one of Japan's most wanted?" he asked with a smirk.

"Oh, it's not that hard, really. You're not a psycho entirely so I guess we can get along well enough," Kohta replied, returning the smile.

Alex stretched his arms, releasing a loud and mighty yawn. "Damn, can't believe I'm still tired after that," he said, putting an arm around Kitty's shoulder, who was beaming at the sight of him being alive and conscious. "So…Kaede, I bet I beat your killing spree," he suddenly said with a smirk.

Kaede frowned at those words, sending a glance at Kohta. So fitting of Alex…he was awake for only several minutes and he was already annoying her and putting her into an uncomfortable situation. Kohta gave her a reassuring smile and she sighed. "You're…you're not even close," she finally said, quite hesitantly.

"Oh…" Alex muttered, realizing that it was an uncomfortable topic for her and resisted the urge to slap himself. "Well, you might be more of a badass than me, but I'm more charismatic than you!" he announced, attempting to lighten the mood. Kaede gave him a look, which seemed to be filled with gratitude for the topic-change and he returned it with a grin of his own.

"So…what happened there? The news can tell us only that much," Kohta asked, uncomfortable with the subject of killing – especially with the way Alex spoke of it – and genuinely curious of how Alex accomplished what he'd done.

"Hmm, I guess I can, but I'm so hungry that I think I could eat a pair of horses right now so how about I tell you the full story over a much needed meal?" Alex suggested, hooking an arm around Kitty's and leading her into the kitchen without waiting for Kohta's reply.

Kohta sent a look at Kaede, a look which she returned. "Shall we join them?" he asked.

In response Kaede wrapped her arms around Kohta's neck and gave him a kiss. "Yeah, why not? I won't admit it to him but it was starting to get boring without him," she said after they broke their kiss. "Just don't tell him that, he won't shut up after it," she added as they walked into the kitchen hand-in-hand.

* * *

He ran as fast as he could. Those crazy assholes were after him, he knew that for sure. A sudden thundering booming sound was heard behind him and he ducked his head as he ran, and just in time. A bullet impacted the wall where his head used to be only seconds ago. He knew he shouldn't have accepted that job. A man paying so much, such an absurd amount, to sell weapons had to be incredibly desperate. He accepted the job, took the shipment, delivered it to the states and was about to sell the shipment when gunshots were fired, and not from either his men, or the buyer's.

A third party arrived, just who he could know. In matter of seconds his men were dead, the buyer was most probably dead as well considering the speed his man died. He managed to get away, losing the shipment in the process. Unfortunately, his escape plan utterly failed so far as he had a well armed man following him closely. A bullet already grazed his arm, which was bleeding slightly but other than that, he was in one piece so far.

He waded through the docks, moving through buildings and several containers. If he could get out of the docks, he will get to his car and get the fuck out of here. It was that simple in plan, but doing it was another matter altogether. The whole deal was supposed to be easy but Murphy's Law had a tendency to be a bitch…

He turned around the corner, avoiding a pair of bullets the zipped by. He waded through corners, avoiding gunfire, moving in a zigzagging pattern most of the time. He turned another corner to a pathway between two large containers but there, much to his surprise and disbelief, a sudden force slammed him right below the knees, sending him into a summersault to land painfully on his back after being carried through the air by his momentum.

He climbed back to his feet, groaning in pain and almost panicking by this point. This little delay might get him killed. He turned his head to see what he tripped on and to his surprise he found a person, a young girl to be precise.

She was around fifteen – or younger, he wasn't sure – she had shoulder length hair, which oddly enough was a dark shade of pink with a beanie hat on top. She wore a warm-looking jacket and skirt. It was odd enough to see such a young girl in the docks, especially in such a late hour but the seemingly disinterested look upon her face was unnerving.

He decided to pay the girl no heed and started running again but then, much to his surprise, he was slammed against the container with much force. His breath was knocked away from his lungs and he turned to see the girl approaching him, still blankly staring at him.

"What the fuck are you?" he asked. That remarked caused her to roll her eyes in displeasure. To the his surprise, he felt a sudden vice-grip on his neck, which lifted him off his feet, and then felt his back hit the container once again, this time putting and impressive dent into the metal wall. Just then, he was hit with a brainstorm.

"Y-you're one of these freaks! Those…diconi!" he announced. This time the girl scowled.

"That's dicloni," the girl said calmly and then he felt his back hit the container again…and then again and again after that.

Amy released the unconscious man, who most probably suffered from quite a lot of broken ribs. "Asshole," she muttered and looked at the unconscious man with distaste. Hurried footsteps brought her attention to the direction the man came from. After several seconds Mike entered the scene.

Mike stopped in his tracks as his gaze moved from Amy to the unconscious man, and then to the large dent the man left on the container. "I think that's a bit of an overkill," he finally said, relaxing his stance, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and walking over to the girl, who was looking at the semi-dead man boringly.

"He…called me a freak," she said with a slight pause.

"Oh…in that case, I think you went too easy on him," he replied with a grin, gesturing for her to follow him.

Amy gladly returned the grin and followed him, sending a vector to pick up their target. She broke into a run to catch up with Mike, the unconscious man floating behind her, his head sometimes hitting the ground.

Almost four months have passed since Alex helped them escape from the institute and her heart surgery that rid her from the bomb. She had been recovering all that time and several weeks ago she was finally allowed to go with the team. She still couldn't believe how big the world was. She had seen only Kamakura in her time but now she truly realized how little she knew of the world she lived in. Right now she was in Mike's homeland, a huge place where people looked different than her, spoke an entirely different language – which Mike took upon himself to teach her, which showed results as she could finally speak with him and his team in English – and was ridiculously larger than Japan.

Mike told her that he was slightly disappointed that she wont be able to live normally now, mostly thanks to Alex since the dicloni were a public knowledge now and they wont be able to hide her origins that well and thanks to their occupation. Living with a group of mercenaries that traveled all over the country, if not the world, usually hampered any attempt of a normal life, even if you weren't a dicloni. And so, mostly due to Amy's ability to handle herself during a firefight – and her ability to pretty much kill everything she desired with but a thought – she found herself going with O'Brian's team to whatever mission they had.

Today's mission involved them capturing a weapon shipment that their employer wanted. O'Brian and the others went on to capture the shipment while Amy remained way back, patrolling the exit. It was a boring occupation, utterly boring but it was necessary. Fortunately, she didn't need to wait too long until someone will try to escape and much to her pleasure; it was one of the lead men that transported the shipment to this dock.

Amy caught up with Mike who was walking ahead of her. "So what now?" she asked him.

"Hell if I know. We take the weapons, get them to the big boss and then wait for the next assignment I guess," Mike replied.

"Okay…"Amy murmured, moving to walk beside him.

They walked in silence for several minutes, none of them saying a word, the only sound between them being their footsteps and the sound of their target's head being dragged across the ground. "So how are you feeling?" Mike broke the silence.

"Me? I'm fine, a bit sleepy I guess," she replied. After the surgery she was confined to resting, and with good reason. While she was tough, tougher than most kids her age, the heart surgery pretty much fucked up her stamina, which wasn't that great to begin with. In other words, after the surgery, she was feeling weak most of the time. Luckily for her, she was recovering in a promising pace.

Moments later their team came into sight. Jack gave them a halfhearted wave; O'Brian gave them a nod as he was looking through the container that contained the weapons. Derrick, as usually, was nowhere to be seen.

Amy smiled at each of the team, her new family. She was surprised to find out that she didn't even want to kill them anymore. Sure, they could annoy the shit out of her sometimes – mostly Jack but it was just the way he was – but oddly enough, she liked them. They were precious to her. She even agreed to stop killing – unless needed – when Mike asked her to. She never had a family but she could guess that Jack was like a big brother to her. He always went out of his way to annoy her but it was easy to see that there was no real mirth in his words. He annoyed her just for the sake of it, and Amy gladly returned the favor. Derrick and Andrew were like…the weird uncles of the family…well, maybe only Derrick. And Mike…perhaps he was like a father to her. Hell, he talked about officially adopting her sometime in the future.

She stopped in her tracks, unceremoniously dropping their target to the ground and looked at her 'family', completely ignoring the dead bodies that littered the area, or simply not caring. They were her family now…they accepted her for who she was and took care of her now. She had a place where she belonged and now, after all the years of hellish existence…she was happy.

O'Brian ordered them to leave the area, saying that people will pick up the weapons later and started waking towards the exit, the team following suit. With a genuine smile – one of the few she'd ever shown – she ran to catch up with them, dragging the unconscious man after her.

* * *

A massive yawn, one of the mightiest that anyone has ever heard, escaped Alex's mouth as he stretched his still-sleeping muscles. He shifted his body a bit to make himself a bit more comfortable on the couch and with its second occupant. Smiling at the still sleeping Kitty, who had a gentle smile on her lips as she slept, he shifted again to wrap his arm around her.

Life was good, as much as a life for a wanted psychopath – as he was called on TV – who murdered over fifty people in cold blood and then joked about it could be. He was pretty much confined to the house, on everyone's insistence. While he wouldn't care to go outside, stating that he was an indestructible motherfucker, a statement that ended with Kitty slapping the back of his head, but when the rest of the residents joined forces with Kitty his plans were shot down fast.

While he would still whine about not being able to go outside and 'meet his fans' as he called it, and sometimes even muttered things such as 'needing a cape and a mask' – that statement in particular received the most incredulous looks and the largest number of slaps on the back of his head – he still listened to common sense and, much to his chagrin, stayed in the house.

Although no one knew about it at that time, he did escape once to buy a pack of cigarettes and entered and took great care with his plan, so far as going to the other side of town. It went smoothly enough; the clerk took out a shotgun of all things at the mere sight of him, emptying several shots into him at point blank. Luckily for Alex, he managed to keep his torso in one piece with a pair of vectors. Knowing about his reputation and how people reacted and would react to him, he simply returned the favor with a right hook to the jaw, paid for several packs and left the shop without any more incidents.

Unfortunately, his escapade ended up on TV at the evening news. Even worse, the security cameras in the shop recorded everything. While some people commented that his right hook was awesome and that he rather proved that he wasn't a bloodthirsty maniac, he did prove that he was still in Kamakura and that he smoked…whether that was important or not, he wasn't sure. On the opposite side, the ability to stop a shotgun blast from a meter away, and take it in such a casual manner frightened many people.

Unfortunately…Kitty and Kaede hadn't taken it well. The back of his head had hurt for days afterwards and Kaede all but ordered Kitty to keep an eye on him 24/7. He didn't mind that as much as they expected him. Kitty all but stayed by his side for almost the entire time anyway.

Right after that news broadcast, dozens of people from Kamakura began calling the police to say that they saw him somewhere, ranging from walking around the street to nude-swimming on the beach. How he knew that? For the first time in years, he found talk-shows to be interesting because after the little shop episode he was all they talked about. It was rather fun to see how people thought about him when they didn't know him at the slightest. Sometimes it was plain hilarious to hear what they speculated about him. The best thing was that he found out that many people had good opinions on him, regardless that he was on a killing-spree several months ago. While most considered him a monster, quite a lot people believed that he did the right thing.

Overall, the whole situation with the dicloni was going well. Practically all the dicloni that were in the institute were already moved to other places, which he hoped were better than what Kakuzawa offered, and the general opinion regarding the newest race on earth was not as bad as he expected.

Many people were openly hostile, openly displaying racism and just being plain douchbags about it but on the other side, many people supported the horned race, stating that they suffered hell at the hands of Kakuzawa and deserved some human rights that were yet to be given them.

Yeah, life was good. Everything was going well. In a weird way the Maple Inn was his home now and he didn't mind that either. Kitty was with him here, having taken his favorite occupation with stride, napping on the couch.

He pulled Kitty closer to him and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. She groaned in response but her smile didn't vanish. Seeing that he already awakened her he kissed her again, and again. Kitty groaned again but it turned into a small giggle when he silenced her with another kiss. "Damn it, stop that…" she half-groaned half-laughed, looking at him through half lidded eyes.

"Kitty…" Alex murmured, "Have I told you that I love you?" he asked. Kitty's eyes widened a fraction as she heard him say these words before her smile widened and she pulled him into a kiss.

"Yeah, I think you did…" she whispered, "I love you too. Now let me sleep…" she finished and cuddled against him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his chest. Alex smile at her words and kissed the top of her head, inhaling that flowery smell of her hair. He smiled and pulled her closer to him, closing his eyes, not minding to spend another three hours of napping, especially with Kitty. As long as Kitty would stay with him, he would be happy. For the first time in his life, he was truly happy.

Yep, his life was good…and he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

* * *

**The End.**

**Okay, this was the last chapter, as hard as it is to me to say this. I enjoyed writing this, a lot. I've had much fun writing this, making up the dialogs and reading your reviews. Your support helped me a lot in writing these last chapters. Thank you once again, possibly for the last time, for reading this. Constructice criticism is very welcomed and so are your opinions. Leave them in a review, or a pm, whatever you prefer.  
**


	17. To the readers

**Well. You've read the last chapter. I'm very glad you enjoyed it, if you read the story so far, which you probably did since you're reading this.**

**One year ago, I wrote the first chapter of this story, exactly one year ago. :P I didnt know how exactly the story will go, or how it will end at that time. I sort of had the basic idea but with my mind I kept changing it at least five times a week and finally, after a year, i finally had the end i wanted. Hopefully it was a good ending, even if it wasnt epically awesome or anything, i still very much liked it. As much as it saddens me to know that i wont be writing this story now, I still hold hope that somehow, out of the blue, i will recieve a rabid plot bunny which will beat an awesome idea into my head since basically, i left some unclosed threads in the story, much like Alex's sister. :P**

**So, you may hold some hope. I just might write a sequel in the future! Just...uh, wait a bit. I dont proise anything though but if i will get an idea, i will use it. I'm just like that. Thats how the story began in the first place!**

I want to thank everyone, _everyone _who read this story and enjoyed it. Special Thanks go to Ash Aijo, Rocci and Dark09, who showed me so much support. Your support helped me write the last...hell, the last seven or eight chapters and helped me finish the story. Thank you for reading this story and telling me you liked it. You did miracles to my ego, hah.****

And so, for the last time (possibly, dont promise anything hehe :P), thank you for reading this story. Maybe you'll see more of me. :P So...until next time, Delvaro. :)  



	18. EPIC Announcment Alert!

**Attention, what you are about to read may or may not blow up your brains from the sheer magnitude of awesome of what you are about to read. Tread carefully.**

**Okay then, I'm back! Now, after around four months of not doing anything, not writing anything important and giving birth to plot bunnies and then killing said plot bunnies and being busy working on my first original story (which you will hear about soon enough) ...well, I have finally hit the motherload! Now I'm glad to announce to my readers and fans that The Prototype will have A sequel!**

**Damn, right, you heard correctly! After nearly four months of waiting you will get the sequel I've been hinting at. Just this morning I have been wasting my time by doing...well, nothing, and then an idea hit me with the force of a truck and I though "eh, why shouldnt i try to write this?" and BAM, I started writing and by the time i notice i already had half of the sequels chapter finished.**

**Now, I dont know where the story will go for now (which isnt that different from The Prototype but hey, it turned out more than fine, right?) but soon enough, perhaps in a day or two, I will post the sequel, so keep your heads up and be sure not to miss it!**

**So, until then, I will see you later with a brand new story! ^^**

ATTENTION: the sequel is already out! :D Just find it. Its named The Aftermath. Have fun ^^  



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